There’s a commercial running on television–I just saw it the other night–that says one in 110 children are affected by autism spectrum disorder. This morning I received a newsletter that says last month, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported that autism spectrum disorder (ASD) now affects 1 of every 88 American children — a 78% increase from just ten years ago.
To guide a research strategy to discover potentially preventable environmental causes, the Children’s Environmental Health Center (CEHC) has developed a list of ten chemicals found in consumer products that are suspected to contribute to autism and learning disabilities.
The list was published in Environmental Health Perspectives in an editorial written by Dr. Philip J. Landrigan, director of the CEHC, Dr. Linda Birnbaum, director of the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), and Dr. Luca Lambertini, also of the CEHC.
The top ten chemicals are:
- Lead
- Methylmercury
- PCBs
- Organophosphate pesticides
- Organochlorine pesticides
- Endocrine disruptors
- Automotive exhaust
- Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
- Brominated flame retardants
- Perfluorinated compounds
My personal opinion is: why wait for science? If these chemicals are suspected of causing autism, why not assume they do and remove them from our homes and and the bodies of autistic children?
Just this week, I read this same prevalence update on the CDC website, as I was curious how many other famlilies are dealing with what we are dealing with. NOTE that the 1 in 88 figure is the most recently PUBLISHED figure, but the research period it that figure comes from is 2008…now we’re 2012, so quite likely the real # kids affected is higher but the data hasn’t been analyzed for publication yet.
We are trying to detox our son of heavy metals, improve his immune system and cope with his learning disabilities and he’s only 3.5 years old. With baby # 2 on the way, we’re using every resource available to get non-toxic baby gear in the home.
I wholeheartedly agree – why wait? Get rid of them.
Couldn’t have said it better!
As a grandparent of two vaccine damaged grandchildren, vaccines are not on the list. Drug companies are much too powerful and have done a fine job of keeping the studies that link autism and vaccines from the media. Parents are still in the dark and keep vaccinating their children. Mercury is still in vaccines, even trace amounts are toxic, then add some aluminum, MSG, yeast, aborted fetal cells, acetone, animal protein, polysorbate 80 and viruses. Yikes!! This is what is happening to our childrens brains, and add environmental toxins and 8 out of 10 children have a learning disabliity or health problem. Autism, ADD and ADHA did not exist in the 1980’s, what has changed? One main things is the increased vaccine schedule.
I can’t beleive it took the CEHC this long to realize toxins are terrible for us. I live a fairly toxin-free life in a rural location, but still, everywhere I look I have to avoid pesticides and preservatives and chemicals. I’m glad they finally realized that toxins are a problem, but they sure took thier time about it. How long will it take them to realize High Fuctose Corn Syrup and GMOs are bad for us. I think the big corperations just don’t want the bad publicity and put the pressure on health organizations to keep quiet. Love your philosiphy Debra, I heard you on WPR 91.3 on the radio. Thanks for getting the word out about these awful toxins!