SchaferAutismReport: Rainier Spots Show Higher Autism Rates

[Guest guest]

Wednesday, November 5, 2008p Reader Supported In This Issue: • • RESEARCHRainier Spots Show Higher Autism Rates $100,000 in Grants Awarded for Research on Equine-Assisted Therapy • • TREATMENTMDs Grapple With McCarthy EffectAdverse Events Common With Citalopram in Children

With Autism Disorder • • • • • • • • EDUCATIONAttorney Pushing Forward Abuse Suit Against Connecticut School DistrictPUBLIC HEALTHSecret Pharma Payments To Vermont Docs

DisclosedInfant Formula WarsMEDIA"Voices and Views" ABC NewsGrey's Anatomy Gets Aspie DoctorCOMMENTARYComment: When Not To Write About Autism Kirby on HuffPo: Rain, Autism and MercuryFirst Autism Conversation With New President: Don't Waste Our Precious Time Send your LETTER The Autism Calendar or here: tinyurl.com/283dpa DO SOMETHING ABOUT AUTISM NOW SUBSCRIBE. . . ! . . . Read, then Forward the Schafer Autism Report.$35 for 1 year - 200 issues, or No Cost Review Sub.www.sarnet.org the Autism Calendartm hereHundreds of Local Autism Events Political Discussion Forum Heats Up As Vaccine Link To Autism Question SpreadsAn email discussion list has been created in response to the growing interest in the environmental causes of autism -- now almost 2,300 subscribers. Here is where to join: (Sponsored by the Schafer Autism Report) SAR Back Issues AUTISM IS TREATABLE Check here Today's SAR is provided through the support of paid subscription readers. - THANK YOU - JUST OUT NEW!the Autism Calendartm hereHundreds of Local Autism EventsRESEARCHRainier Spots Show Higher Autism Rates By Reinberg, HealthDay, in the Washington Post. bit.ly/3wa9Vb HealthDay News - Children who live in areas of the United States that get a lot of precipitation appear to have a higher risk of developing autism, a new study

suggests. Because these children may spend more time indoors or because rain brings chemicals in the atmosphere to the ground, they might be exposed to environmental triggers that can trigger a genetic predisposition to autism, the researchers say. "There seems to be a strong association between precipitation and autism diagnosis rates," said lead researcher Waldman, a professor of economics at the Graduate School of Management at Cornell University. Waldman, whose son was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, isn't saying that rain causes the condition. "Our finding strongly suggests that there is some factor which is positively correlated with precipitation, which is serving as a trigger for autism," he said. One possible explanation for this correlation is vitamin D deficiency, Waldman said. "There is a fair amount of

research that vitamin D deficiency in young children causes problems. As children aren't outside as much, they aren't getting enough vitamin D, and that's serving as a trigger for autism," he said. Another possibility is children are spending too much time watching TV or videos, Waldman said. "There are various papers showing associations between early childhood television viewing and various problems concerning cognitive outcomes, sleep problems, behavior problems, etc.," he noted. A third possibility is exposure to chemicals in the home which trigger autism, Waldman said. In addition, there may be a chemical or chemicals in the upper atmosphere that are transported to the surface by precipitation. There is debate about whether autism is caused by genetics alone or genetics and the environment, Waldman said. "Our results are inconsistent with it being just

genetic." The report was published in the November issue of theArchives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. For the study, Waldman's team looked at the prevalence of autism among children in California, Oregon and Washington. They also used data from the National Climatic Data Center to calculate the average annual rainfall by county in these states. The researchers found among school-aged children in these states that the prevalence of autism rose as the amount of precipitation increased. In fact, the prevalence in autism increased up to 30 percent in the rainiest counties. Over the past three decades, the number of children diagnosed with any form of autism has increased from one in 2,500 children to one in 150 children. Some of the increase is most likely due to better diagnosis and the changing definition of autism, which now

encompasses a variety of conditions called autism spectrum disorder. Waldman's group, however, insists that a real increase in the numbers of autistic children cannot be ruled out. Lathe, an autism expert from Pieta Research in Edinburgh, Scotland, thinks that Waldman might be on to something. "Nevertheless, one must be vigilant, because statistical correlations do not necessarily imply causality," Lathe said. "This caveat aside, the authors demonstrate, with better than 99 percent certainty, that the correlation is not by chance." Lathe thinks the most likely explanation for the association between autism and rain is that rain carries chemicals in the atmosphere to the ground. "This explanation is plausible," Lathe said. "Emissions from manufacturing industries, power plants, and from domestic

waste incineration generally rise to the troposphere to be diluted into the large volume of the atmosphere. Precipitation can dump this load back on the land, to be absorbed by plants and animals in the food chain," he said. One possibility that needs to be addressed further is that exposure need not be in the child, Lathe said. "There has been a suggestion that maternal exposure to environmental toxins might contribute to autism in children," he said. These results are not definitive evidence in favor of the hypothesis that autism has an environmental trigger, but the results are consistent with the hypothesis, Lathe said. "For the future, one feels it will be essential to study levels of toxins in soil, crop and food samples from the different counties investigated in the Waldman study. A positive correlation would greatly reinforce the environmental hypothesis," he

said. Dr. Noel S. Weiss, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Washington in Seattle, and author of an accompanying journal editorial, thinks the results of the study need to be taken with a grain of salt. "This is a course analysis," Weiss said. "There For rest of today's SAR click here:www.sarnet.org/frm/forsar.htm Today's SAR is provided through the support of paid subscription readers. - THANK YOU - $35 for 1 year - or free!www.sarnet.org Copyright Notice: The above items are copyright protected. They are for our readers' personal education or research purposes only and provided at their request. Articles may not be further reprinted or used commercially without consent from the copyright holders. To find the copyright holders, follow the referenced website link provided at the beginning of each

item. Lenny Schafer editor@... The Schafer Autism Report is a non-profit corporation Vol. 12 No. 158p

Unsubscribe here: www.sarnet.org/frm/unsub2.htm _______________________________________________SARnets mailing listSARnets@...http://lists.igc.org/mailman/listinfo/sarnetsYou can unsubscribe send email:http://www.sarnet.org/frm/unsub2.htm-- You are subscribed as: deniseslist@...