breathing autism

[Guest guest]

Various studies have reported associations between autism rates and

airborne pollutants (e.g., 1-3). The rising rate of autism may not be as

mysterious as we are generally led to believe. ~

Many Americans left behind in the quest for cleaner air.

<http://www.iwatchnews.org/2011/11/07/7267/many-americans-left-behind-quest-clea\

ner-air>

By Jim , Hamby, Lucas Center for Public Integrity

7 November 2011

Americans might expect the government to protect them from

unsafe air. That hasn't happened. Insidious forms of toxic air pollution

persist in hundreds of communities across the United States, an

investigation by the Center for Public Integrity's iWatch News and NPR

shows. Congress targeted nearly 200 chemicals in 1990 amendments to the

Clean Air Act, which the first Bush administration promised would lead

to sharp reductions in cancer, birth defects and other serious ailments.

But the agencies that were supposed to protect the public instead have

left millions of people from California to Maine exposed to known risks

--- sometimes for years.

Secret 'watch list' reveals failure to curb toxic air.

<http://www.npr.org/2011/11/07/142035420/secret-watch-list-reveals-failure-to-cu\

rb-toxic-air>

By Shogren Morning Edition 7 November 2011

The system Congress set up 21 years ago to clean up toxic air

pollution still leaves many communities exposed to risky concentrations

of benzene, formaldehyde, mercury and many other hazardous chemicals.

Pollution violations at more than 1,600 plants across the country were

serious enough that the government believes they require urgent action,

according to an analysis of EPA data by NPR and the Center for Public

Integrity. Yet nearly 300 of those facilities have been considered " high

priority violators " of the Clean Air Act by the Environmental Protection

Agency for at least a decade.

1. Autism spectrum disorders in relation to distribution of hazardous

air pollutants in the san francisco bay area.

<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16966102>

Windham GC, Zhang L, Gunier R, Croen LA, Grether JK.

Environ Health Perspect. 2006 Sep;114(9):1438-44.

2.Proximity to point sources of environmental mercury release as a

predictor of autism prevalence.

<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18353703>

Palmer RF, Blanchard S, Wood R.

Health Place. 2009 Mar;15(1):18-24.

3. Residential proximity to freeways and autism in the CHARGE study.

<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21156395>

Volk HE, Hertz-Picciotto I, Delwiche L, Lurmann F, McConnell R.

Environ Health Perspect. 2011 Jun;119(6):873-7.

see also:

A positive association found between autism prevalence and childhood

vaccination uptake across the U.S. population.

<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21623535>

Delong G.

J Toxicol Environ Health A. 2011 Jan;74(14):903-16.

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