Fw: [Autism] Top 10 Toxic Chemicals Suspected to Cause Autism & Learning Disabilities

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Hmmm, there seem to be a few relatively widely used chemicals missing from that list (namely, some of the chemicals that are used in various vaccines, such as ethylmercury and aluminum hydroxide, neither of which is exactly innocuous). Aasa ----- Forwarded Message ----- To: autism Sent: Wednesday, April 25, 2012

4:58:41 PM Subject: [Autism] Top 10 Toxic Chemicals Suspected to Cause Autism & Learning Disabilities Top 10 Toxic Chemicals Suspected to Cause Autism & Learning DisabilitiesThe Mount Sinai Hospital / Mount Sinai School of Medicine issued the following news release:List of the top 10 toxic chemicals suspected to cause autism and learning disabilitiesApril 25, 2012An editorial published today in the prestigious journal Environmental Health Perspectives calls for increased research to identify possible environmental causes of autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders in America's children and presents a list of ten target chemicals including which are considered highly likely to contribute to these conditions.Philip Landrigan, MD, MSc, a world-renowned leader in children's environmental health and Director of the Children's

Environmental Health Center (CEHC) at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, co-authored the editorial, entitled "A Research Strategy to Discover the Environmental Causes of Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disabilities," along with Luca Lambertini, PhD, MPH, MSc, Assistant Professor of Preventive Medicine at Mount Sinai and Birnbaum, Director of the National Institute OF Environmental Health Sciences.The editorial was published alongside four other papers -- each suggesting a link between toxic chemicals and autism. Both the editorial and the papers originated at a conference hosted by CEHC in December 2010.The National Academy of Sciences reports that 3 percent of all neurobehavioral disorders in children, such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), are caused by toxic exposures in the environment and that another 25 percent are caused by interactions between environmental factors and

genetics.But the precise environmental causes are not yet known.While genetic research has demonstrated that ASD and certain other neurodevelopmental disorders have a strong hereditary component, many believe that environmental causes may also play a role - and Mount Sinai is leading an effort to understand the role of these toxins in a condition that now affects between 400,000 and 600,000 of the 4 million children born in the United States each year."A large number of the chemicals in widest use have not undergone even minimal assessment of potential toxicity and this is of great concern," says Dr. Landrigan. "Knowledge of environmental causes of neurodevelopmental disorders is critically important because they are potentially preventable."CEHC developed the list of ten chemicals found in consumer products that are suspected to contribute to autism and learning disabilities to guide a research strategy to discover

potentially preventable environmental causes.The top ten chemicals are:1. Lead2. Methylmercury3. PCBs4. Organophosphate pesticides5. Organochlorine pesticides6. Endocrine disruptors7. Automotive exhaust8. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons9. Brominated flame retardants10. Perfluorinated compoundsIn addition to the editorial, the other four papers also call for increased research to identify the possible environmental causes of autism in America's children.The first paper, written by a team at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, found preliminary evidence linking smoking during pregnancy to Asperger's disorder and other forms of high-functioning autism.Two papers, written by researchers at the University of California - , show that PCBs disrupt early brain development.The final paper, also by a team at UC - , suggests further exploring the link between

pesticide exposure and autism.Ken Pope