The Canary Report

Studies link autism and pollution

Posted on Apr 18, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, Research

“The incidence of autism has risen dramatically since the anti-environmental Reagan Revolution of 1980.”

The Bloomington Alternative reports coal-burning power plants, like are found in Indiana (at left), release the toxic metal mercury into the air. Mercury is among more than 200 pollutants known to cause brain damage in children and could be a cause of autism.

A 2008 article titled “Increasing Incidence of Autism Spectrum Disorders Continues in Indiana” noted that Indiana’s autism rate is above the 1 in 150 children that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) found in a 2007 study.

“Last year 1 in 128 students were served under the eligibility category of autism spectrum disorders,” Indiana Resource Center for Autism (IRCA) Director Cathy Pratt wrote. “This year’s identification rate is 1 in 113.”

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Indiana industries, utilities and governmental facilities released 266 million pounds of toxic chemicals into the air, land and water in 2006. Only Alaska, with 18 times the land mass, and Ohio, with 181 percent the population, released more than Indiana.

And if the proposition of Philippe Grandjean from the Harvard School of Public Health and Dr. Philip Landrigan from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine proves correct, these two realities may be more than coincidence.

They co-authored a paper published in the November 2007 issue of the British medical journal The Lancet that addressed the role of toxic chemicals in “neurodevelopmental disorders” like autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), cerebral palsy and mental retardation.

“The researchers found that 202 industrial chemicals have the capacity to damage the human brain,” a Harvard news release said, “and they conclude that chemical pollution may have harmed the brains of millions of children worldwide.”

Link to full story at The Bloomington Alternative.

Photo credit.

Thanks, Linda!

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Tags: Air, Chemicals, Children's Health, Environment, Environmental Health, Research, Toxic