Autism and Disappearing Bees: A Common Denominator?

April 2, 2012

The essay is presented on a progressive website. Please, neither shoot

nor vaccinate the messenger. ~//

Monday, April 2, 2012 by Common Dreams

by Moench M.D., is President of Utah Physicians for a Healthy

Environment and a member of the Union of Concerned Scientists. He can be

reached at: drmoench@...

A few days ago the Salt Lake Tribune's front page headline declared,

" Highest rate in the nation, 1 in 32 Utah boys has autism

csp>. "

This is a national public health emergency, whose epicenter is Utah,

Gov. Herbert. A more obscure story on the same day read: " New

pesticides linked to bee population collapse. " If you eat food, and

hope to do so in the future, this is another national emergency, Pres.

Obama. A common denominator may underlie both headlines.

A Stanford University study with 192 pairs of twins, with one twin

autistic and one not, found that genetics accounts for 38% of the risk

of autism, and environmental factors account for 62%.

Supporting an environmental/genetic tag team are other studies showing

autistic children and their mothers have a high rate of a genetic

deficiency in the production of glutathione, an anti-oxidant and the

body's primary means of detoxifying heavy metals. High levels of toxic

metals in children are strongly correlated with the severity of autism.

Low levels of glutathione, coupled with high production of another

chemical, homocysteine, increase the chance of a mother having an

autistic child to one in three. That autism is four times more common

among boys than girls is likely related to a defect in the single male X

chromosome contributing to anti-oxidant deficiency. There is no such

thing as a genetic disease epidemic because genes don't change that

quickly. So the alarming rise in autism must be the result of increased

environmental exposures that exploit these genetic defects....

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