Autism Rising? Not According to Behavior Analyst Steve Taylor Who Proclaims That Autism Is 100% Genetic In Origin

Since my son was diagnosed with Autistic Disorder in 1998 the rates of diagnosed autism have risen dramatically from 1 in 500 to the current estimated rate of 1 in 88.  There is common acknowledgement that a substantial increase resulted from the DSM-IV changes which pushed acceptance of Aspergers as part of an autism spectrum.  Social factors such as increased awareness and availability of services under an autism label have also been cited.  Some purported autism experts  though have concluded that the dramatic autism increases are entirely attributable to diagnostic changes, increased awareness and the desirability for service reasons of an autism diagnosis. One such  autism expert is Behavior Analyst Steve Taylor who proclaims  in the Modesto Bee that "Autism isn't spreading, but the diagnosis is". 

The dramatic increases have also taken place during years when genetic autism research received an overwhelming share of the autism research dollar. Calls for increased funding for environmental autism research by respected researchers like Hertz-Picciotto, Pessah, Landrigan, Birnbaum and others have not  tilted the balance dramatically away from the "its gotta be genetic mindset".  No study proving that the overwhelming increase in autism disorders is caused entirely by diagnostic change and increased social awareness has been produced.  No study producing a genetic explanation for all or even a significant number of autism disorders has been produced.  Very few environmental autism studies have been funded compared to genetic studies and yet the Steve Taylors of the expert autism community claim that there is no real increase at all.  

As they did with the refrigerator mothers theory of autism a few decades ago many of the world's autism "experts" embrace as an article of faith that autism isn't increasing.  Once again too the finger is pointed, at least in part, at parents ..... this time it is parents seeking services for their children as stated by Taylor in the  Modesto Bee:

"I'm still working with the same kind of kids, but everyone today seems to have autism. I met an area family for the first time recently and the 3-year-old I was there to help looked me in the eye and told me, "Go home." He's got autism, now.

No one can diagnose a complex disorder from a single interaction, but I'm going to spend months and maybe years working with this family to change behaviors that this rude boy would likely grow out of and, despite my best efforts, maybe make it worse.

For pure and understandable motives, parents still lobby for the diagnosis. An autism diagnosis brings more services.

The Stanislaus County Office of Education lists three pre-formal diagnostic (too young to diagnose) intensive classes of six to eight students as well as five elementary autism classes, which come with two full-time autism specialists.

A student with the same delays but not diagnosed as autistic doesn't usually get that kind of specialized support."

The only way Steve Taylor and the autism epidemic deniers could possibly be sure that the increases in autism rates are not real AT ALL is if autism disorders are not caused or contributed to by any environmental factors; that autism is entirely genetic in origin. Taylor is a true believer that autism is not increasing; that autism is 100% genetic in origin.  For those of us who lack Taylor's brilliant insights into the causes of autism we will have to wait for studies that actually provide evidence in support of his belief that autism rates are not really increasing at all.

Read more here: http://www.modbee.com/2013/04/18/2676742/autism-isnt-spreading-but-the.html#storylink=cpy

Autism Now 1 in 50? Round Up the Usual Suspects AGAIN

From last years increase of autism prevalence rates from 1 in 110 to 1 in 88 a new report, based on parental reporting now indicates a rate of 1 in 50. Time once again to call out Inspector Renault (looking much like Insel, Grinker and other autism can not really be rising true believers) to round up the usual suspects of increased awareness, ascertainment and any other non environmental excuse they can manufacture to rationalize the failure to conduct the necessary environmental research into autism causation. Following is last years comment on the tired and pathetic posturing of the autism epidemic apologists:

"The usual suspects

The people habitually suspected or arrested in response to a crime. The phrase is usually used in regard to scapegoats rather than actual perpetrators of the crime in question.

This expression has a specific and unambiguous origin. It was spoken by Captain Louis Renault, the French prefect of police, played by Claude Rains in the 1942 U.S. film Casablanca. The context was a scene in which the Nazi, Major Strasser is shot by Humphrey Bogart's character, Rick Blaine. Renault was a witness to the shooting but saves Rick's life by telling the investigating police to "round up the usual suspects"."


-The Phrase Finder

CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden, playing the part of Captain Renault from the film classic Casablanca, rounds up the usual suspects as the CDC announces stunning new autism rates in the US of 1 in 88 children, 1 in 54 boys:

"DR. THOMAS FRIEDEN, director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: 

There are a few things that we know for certain and there are some things that we don't know. And we always want to be up front about what we do and don't know.

We know for certain that doctors are getting better at diagnosing autism. We also know for certain that communities are getting better providing services to children with autism and that at CDC we've gotten better at tracking all of the children in a community who may have been diagnosed or identified with autism.

So we know that some of the increase is certainly because we're detecting more cases of autism. Whether that's all of the increase or not, we simply don't know. But we do know that there are many children with autism and that many of them need services and that diagnosis is often too late.

So whether this is a real increase or not is really secondary to saying that this is a big problem, lots of people are out there who need services and would benefit from services."

There is no dispute that diagnostic change, increased awareness and better detection probably explain some of the repeated and astonishing increases in autism diagnoses.  There is, however, no definitive study, or group of studies, which assigns 100% responsibility for the pre-2012 increases entirely to these factors.  There is absolutely no credible basis for anyone to state that the recent increase from 1 in 110 to 1 in 88 over a period of a few years is entirely attributable to diagnostic and social factors.  

Autism research funding has historically been directed overwhelmingly towards genetic autism research.  Only in recent years has any significant support been provided for environmental causes or triggers of autism, causes and triggers which might, and probably are, involved in these stunning increases in the numbers of children diagnosed with autism.  

The safe route to take in the face of such astonishing numbers is to invest more monies in treatment, education and residential care of those affected by autism disorders and to invest substantially more research dollars in exploring the environmental causes of autism disorders.  We must search for all the possible suspects as we try to determine what is causing the epidemic of autism disorders that increasingly affect more and more of our children.  

Strategic Research of Environmental Causes of Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disabilities

In A Research Strategy to Discover the Environmental Causes of Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disabilities, an editorial in the current issue of Environmental Health Perspectives, authors Philip J. Landrigan, Luca Lambertini and Linda S. Birnbaum make a  compelling argument for strategically researching environmental causes of autism and neurodevelopmental disabilities. In the process they provide an understanding of autism as a family of disorders.   The authors point out that, despite the attention paid to genetic causes of autism disorders,  a large number of genes have been identified as candidates in causing autism disorders with no single dominant genetic anomaly and with no disorders attributable to 60-70% of autism disorders: 

The candidate genes most strongly implicated in NDD causation encode for proteins involved in synaptic architecture, neurotransmitter synthesis (e.g., γ-aminobutyric acid serotonin), oxytocin receptors, and cation trafficking (Sakurai et al. 2011). No single anomaly predominates. Instead, autism appears to be a family of diseases with common phenotypes linked to a series of genetic anomalies, each of which is responsible for no more than 2–3% of cases. The total fraction of ASD attributable to genetic inheritance may be about 30–40%.

Landrigan, Labertini and Birnbaum summarize the evidence for the "proof of principle" that early exposures during “windows of vulnerability” that open only in embryonic and fetal life and have no later counterpart can cause autism.  They review the large numbers of synthetic chemicals, many of them untested, some of which are known to have toxic properties. The authors propose a strategic approach to researching possible environmental causes of autism by focusing:

"research in environmental causation of NDDs on a short list of chemicals where concentrated study has high potential to generate actionable findings in the near future. Its ultimate purpose is to catalyze new evidence-based programs for prevention of disease in America’s children."

The authors recognize that the list of 10 possible environmental causes deserving of focused research at this time would expand with time and scientific developments.  As a start though they propose based on the studies referenced following the substance: Lead (Jusko et al. 2008) Methylmercury (Oken et al. 2008) Polychlorinated biphenyls (Winneke 2011) Organophosphate pesticides (Eskenazi et al. 2007; London et al. 2012) Organochlorine pesticides (Eskenazi et al. 2008) Endocrine disruptors (Braun et al. 2011; Miodovnik et al. 2011) Automotive exhaust (Volk et al. 2011) Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (Perera et al. 2009) Brominated flame retardants (Herbstman et al. 2010) Perfluorinated compounds (Stein and Savitz 2011).

The strategic approach to environmental autism research is an idea who time has come.  In fact it is long overdue. The respected authors of the EHP editorial will undoubtedly be vilified by the usual suspects, Neurodiversity ideologues and industrial and pharmaceutical spin doctors employed to cast doubt on the need for any environmentally focused autism research.  However, given the support of the NIEHS and Autism Speaks, there is substantial reason to hope that the strategic focused study of environmental causes of autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders is underway.

It's about time. 

Autism Rates Reach New Epidemic Levels? Round Up the Usual Suspects!

"The usual suspects

The people habitually suspected or arrested in response to a crime. The phrase is usually used in regard to scapegoats rather than actual perpetrators of the crime in question.

This expression has a specific and unambiguous origin. It was spoken by Captain Louis Renault, the French prefect of police, played by Claude Rains in the 1942 U.S. film Casablanca. The context was a scene in which the Nazi, Major Strasser is shot by Humphrey Bogart's character, Rick Blaine. Renault was a witness to the shooting but saves Rick's life by telling the investigating police to "round up the usual suspects"."


-The Phrase Finder

CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden, playing the part of Captain Renault from the film classic Casablanca, rounds up the usual suspects as the CDC announces stunning new autism rates in the US of 1 in 88 children, 1 in 54 boys:

"DR. THOMAS FRIEDEN, director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: 

There are a few things that we know for certain and there are some things that we don't know. And we always want to be up front about what we do and don't know.

We know for certain that doctors are getting better at diagnosing autism. We also know for certain that communities are getting better providing services to children with autism and that at CDC we've gotten better at tracking all of the children in a community who may have been diagnosed or identified with autism.

So we know that some of the increase is certainly because we're detecting more cases of autism. Whether that's all of the increase or not, we simply don't know. But we do know that there are many children with autism and that many of them need services and that diagnosis is often too late.

So whether this is a real increase or not is really secondary to saying that this is a big problem, lots of people are out there who need services and would benefit from services."

There is no dispute that diagnostic change, increased awareness and better detection probably explain some of the repeated and astonishing increases in autism diagnoses.  There is, however, no definitive study, or group of studies, which assigns 100% responsibility for the pre-2012 increases entirely to these factors.  There is absolutely no credible basis for anyone to state that the recent increase from 1 in 110 to 1 in 88 over a period of a few years is entirely attributable to diagnostic and social factors.  

Autism research funding has historically been directed overwhelmingly towards genetic autism research.  Only in recent years has any significant support been provided for environmental causes or triggers of autism, causes and triggers which might, and probably are, involved in these stunning increases in the numbers of children diagnosed with autism.  

The safe route to take in the face of such astonishing numbers is to invest more monies in treatment, education and residential care of those affected by autism disorders and to invest substantially more research dollars in exploring the environmental causes of autism disorders.  We must search for all the possible suspects as we try to determine what is causing the epidemic of autism disorders that increasingly affect more and more of our children.  

Ultimate, Unchecked, Unfounded Autism Assumptions: Autism Isn't Really Increasing, It's All Genetic

".... is one of the 1 percent of children in the U.S. born with autism, a complex developmental disability that affects a person's ability to communicate and interact with others at varying degrees. Autism appears to be increasing because of the psychological testing that is available to detect it, said Ramona Puget, who earned a bachelor of arts in psychology and is the president of the Kern Autism Society, a local chapter in the national organization of the Autism Society.  ...There is no known single cause for autism, but it is accepted that it's caused by abnormalities in brain structure or function, according to the research. It is a neurological disorder that is present at birth, but symptoms may not appear until much later      "  

Lodi News-Sentinel, November 26, 2011  [underlining added -HLD]

Really? Can someone help me here?

What conclusive studies have been conducted to determine that autism is increasing because of a) diagnostic changes (last significant changes in 1994) b) increased availability of testing to detect autism c) increased social awareness d) pressure to obtain autism diagnosis to access autism services and treatment? 

If there is no known single cause for autism, or for the autisms, as other sources will often say, how do we know that autism is present at birth or that autism is not really increasing, that it is only ascertainment factors that are creating a false impression of increases in autism disorders? Some very credible sources have pointed to the likelihood of genetic environmental interaction as the source of autism disorders.  Most autism research has focused on the genetic side of the equation with little effort made to "ascertain" potential environmental causes or triggers of the various autism disorders.

So how can it be said that autism is not really increasing or that autism is present at birth?  Surely there are enough controversies in autism discussions without reviving the assumption that autism disorders are 100% genetic and are never caused or triggered by environmental factors?

Autism Research Awakening: Environment Plays A Role In Causing Autism

“We have to look also at environmental factors, and from my point of view, the interaction between the genetic factors and the environmental factors ... It looks like some shared environmental factors play a role in autism, and the study really points toward factors that are early in life that affect the development of the child"

Joachim Hallmayer, MD,  associate professor of psychiatry at Stanford University in California

WebMD reports on a new study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry which  found that autism was surprisingly common in fraternal twins, despite the fact that they don’t share as many of the same genes as identical twins, suggesting that some common environmental factors might be playing as big a role in causing their autism disorders as genetics.  Dr. Hallmayer was one of the study researchers who were surprised with the result.  Is this an awakening in the autism research professions?

For some it probably is.  For others not so much.  Even this humble autism father/blogger reported an autism paradigm shift 4 years ago and I have followed it since then blogging on developments in the area of environmental causes of autism. But there are die-hards who will not be convinced, who will not change their minds no matter what. Academic careers and reputations as expert witnesses have been built promoting the view that autism is 100% genetic and that accordingly autism disorders are not actually increasing.  Reported increases of autism diagnoses are routinely dismissed as due entirely to diagnostic definition change and increased awareness.  Of course manufacturers of products from vaccines to children's toys have a vested interest in encouraging the "it's gotta be genetic" autism causation paradigm described over a decade ago by Teresa Binstock.  Many will never admit that autism could ever be caused by the interaction of environmental and genetic factors.  

FOCUS: Autism Speaks Research Focuses on Brain Pathways and Possible Medicines

When I read the headline New Hope in Autism Fight, an article in the Wall Street Journal by reporter Melanie Grayce West, my first thought was Yeah Sure, Another Ill informed Feel Good Autism Puff Piece in the Mainstream Media.  My first response was wrong.  The article was brief and to the point and provided direct quotes from someone who knows what she is talking about when it comes to autism disorders, Dr. Geraldine Dawson. It set out succinctly  the very clear, and important, focus of Autism Speaks funded research ... research aimed at developing new methods of autism diagnosis and treatment. The comments  provide a rational and informed basis for the optimism expressed in the title. 

The article began by reporting another large contribution to Autism Speaks by Summer Redstone and outlined briefly some of his other generous contributions to medicine and health care. It included  a no nonsense realistic description by Dr. Dawson of autism disorders and the challenges they present to those who suffer from them.  Not a whiff of  feel good "autism is beautiful" stuff. It indicated  point blank that autism is increasing without any of the usual attempts to obscure the increase that often accompany reports of new increases in autism rates. What I found most interesting though was the concise and clear description of the focus of Autism Speaks research:

The core of the current research conducted by Autism Speaks focuses on translating the basic biology that researchers have learned about autism into new methods of diagnosis or treatment. The science suggests that even though autism has many different genetic and environmental causes, their effects may converge on a set of common pathways in the brain.

"For the first time we have the possibility of developing medicines that could help to restore the function of these pathways," says Dr. Dawson. Ultimately these medicines would help to reduce the core symptoms of autism.

In the next few years, the biggest challenge to researchers will be to develop medicines that would be useful for the broader, general population of people with autism.

"We are actually very hopeful at this point that we will be able to conduct clinical trials with people with autism in the upcoming few years," says Dr. Dawson. "That's never been done. We've never really been as hopeful as we are now."


I hope that Autism Speaks does not abandon any of its contributions to researching the causes of autism, particularly to the woefully underfunded environmental causes of autism, but I am very pleased with the efforts to find new treatments.  The goals of exploring the biological basis of autism disorders, the common pathways in the brain implicated in autism disorders, and Dr. Dawson's expression of optimism that medicines aimed at restoring the functions of those pathways will be developed in the upcoming years is clear, sensible and ... focused.  It is that focus which is so important and which I had begun to think was missing in Autism Speaks' activities.

Many parents hope for the development of treatments, of medicines, which will help their autistic loved ones but many of us grow skeptical, if not outright cynical, after seeing so many false starts and so much spin and hoopla over very little.  Dr. Dawson has stated that she and Autism Speaks are actually very hopeful for development of new medicines that will actually help the general population of persons with autism disorders and explained why they feel that way.  I believe she is speaking honestly and is in a position to know what she is talking about.

I am, once again, optimistic about Autism Speaks and the future of autism research.

Autism Speaks & CDC Autism Prevalence Increase Workshop Timely: Autism is Rising & Environmental Factors Likely Involved

"Based on the above mentioned research, approximately 53% percent of the increase in autism prevalence over time may be explained by changes in diagnosis (26%), greater awareness (16%), and an increase in parental age (11%). While this research is beginning to help us understand the increase in autism prevalence, half of the increase is still unexplained and not due to better diagnosis, greater awareness, and social factors alone. Environmental factors, and their interactions with genetic susceptibilities, are likely contributors to increase in prevalence and are the subject of numerous research projects currently supported by Autism Speaks.

The increase in autism prevalence is real and the public health crisis is growing. More families are affected by autism today then ever before."

Autism Speaks Official Blog, October 22, 2010

The above statement by Autism Speaks was based on several published sources and CDC information. including articles by authors Bearman and King, who have indicated that approximately 50% (47%) of autism prevalence increases are based on factors other than social factors. Now Autism Speaks and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are co-sponsoring a workshop  on February 1, 2011 to investigate the changes in autism prevalence over time in the United State:

"The purpose of this workshop is to identify promising directions, priorities, and needs for better understanding ASD prevalence trends. The workshop will include presentations on what has been done to understand reasons for ASD prevalence changes, examples of understanding prevalence change from other conditions, and panel breakout sessions to allow for further discussions.


This meeting is open to the public with pre-registration required by January 24, 2011 for US citizens and January 13 for non-US citizens."

Autism Speaks Official Blog, January 5, 2011

While Autism Speaks has been puzzling at times in its efforts to "speak" about autism disorders, promoting the careers of purported autism spokespersons who question the very existence of autism as a  medical  disorder,  the importance of the above initiative can not be overstated.  For far too long the "it's gotta be genetic" mindset has held sway and prevented substantial scientific exploration of possible environmental causes or triggers of autism. Hopefully the recent US Senate hearings, official statements by the IACC acknowledging the emergence of a gene environment interaction paradigm, the CHARGE study, work by Dr. Irva Hertz-Picciotto and UN Davis M.I.N.D. researchers,  and efforts like the Autism Speaks/CDC prevalence workshop will lead to further environmental autism research; research which should have been commenced  years ago.

Mainstream Media Autism Ignorance: Lovaas Passing, US Senate Hearings on Possible Environmental Causes of Autism Go Unmentioned

Many parents of autistic children do not look to the mainstream media (MSM)  for autism information.  For good reason. They are unlikely to learn anything about autism  from MSM sources.

Most of us learned long, long ago that the mainstream media focuses on feel good stories, Temple Grandin, Rainman, Sigourney Weaver, Clare Danes, and the latest  person with very high functioning autism or Aspergers  to declare that "WE" don't want to be cured, from Jim Sinclair, to Michelle Dawson, Amanda Baggs,  Alex Plank, JE Robison and of course the very well connected young university student Ari Ne'eman. The MSM love to report the Offit Script over and over that vaccines are beautiful and that an autism vaccine connection has been disproved for ever and ever after. The MSM dutifully reports that autism is genetic, that parents of autistic children  are emotional even hysterical, irrational and a danger to public health.

Amazingly, apart from a few local NBC outlets,  the passing of Dr. O. Ivar Lovaas, the man whose work and studies, had such great and positive impacts on the lives of autistic children, has gone unmentioned. So too, the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works, Subcommittee on Children's Health which is examining  potential environmental factors of autism is also unreported in  the MSM. After decades of news reports on the genetic bases of autism high level US hearings on possible environmental causes of autism do not warrant any coverage by the MSM.

Of course it may not be the fault of the MSM. After all the MSM journalists may simply be ignorant of autism realities and over reliant on Hollywood and pharmaceutical industry press releases and the Offit  Script.  How could they  know anything of Lovaas or environmental factors of autism or appreciate the significance of either, particularly when it appears,  the marketing arms of  Hollywood and the pharmaceutical industry saw no advantage to  promoting either of  these important autism developments.

Dr. Philip J. Landrigan Calls for Expanded Research Into Environmental Causes of Autism

Dr. Philip J. Landrigan  has published, in the April 201 edition of Current Opinion in Pediatrics,   an article  titled  What causes autism? Exploring the environmental contribution in which the he calls for expanded research into environmental causes of autism.  As set out in the abstract summary:

"Expanded research is needed into environmental causation of autism. Children today are surrounded by thousands of synthetic chemicals. Two hundred of them are neurotoxic in adult humans, and 1000 more in laboratory models. Yet fewer than 20% of high-volume chemicals have been tested for neurodevelopmental toxicity. I propose a targeted discovery strategy focused on suspect chemicals, which combines expanded toxicological screening, neurobiological research and prospective epidemiological studies."

Dr. Landrigan notes that genetic factors are implicated in causing autism but only in a very small number of cases and they do not explain key clinical and epidemiological features. He suggests as a hypotheses that early environmental factors could contribute.  Dr. Landrigan notes two important indirect sources of support for the hypothesis: "studies demonstrating the sensitivity of the developing brain to external exposures such as lead, ethyl alcohol and methyl mercury" and, more importantly, "studies specifically linking autism to exposures in early pregnancy – thalidomide, misoprostol, and valproic acid; maternal rubella infection; and the organophosphate insecticide, chlorpyrifos."

In December 2009 I  wrote a blog comment on this very subject Autism and Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals: Time to Put a Stake Through the Heart of the "It's Gotta Be Genetic" Model of Autism Research. My comment was based on the CDC Fourth National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals, which:

"measured 212 chemicals in people's blood or urine—75 of which have never before been measured in the U.S. population. The new chemicals include acrylamide, arsenic, environmental phenols, including bisphenol A and triclosan, and perchlorate"

I noted that this alarming report had been released just days before Christmas when it would attract little public attention. But I am not a scientist and even worse, I am a parent of an autistic child, which means that my opinion about the realities of autism disorders,  is generally worth less than nothing in public health authority circles.  I am very pleased that someone as distinguished as Dr. Landrigan has in fact been paying attention to the possible role played by untested synthetic chemicals in causing autism in children. For those who do not know who Dr. Philp J. Landrigan is I am citing, in full his bio,  as listed on the Environmental Health Perspectives site:

"Philip J. Landrigan, MD
Center for Children's Health and the Environment
Department of Community &  Preventive Medicine
Mount Sinai School of Medicine

Philip J. Landrigan, a pediatrician, is the Ethel H. Wise Professor and chair of the Department of Community and Preventive Medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. He also holds a professorship in pediatrics at Mount Sinai. He directs the Mount Sinai Center for Children's Health and the Environment. Landrigan is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and is currently editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Industrial Medicine. He has served in many other capacities, including editor of Environmental Research and committee chair at the NAS on Environmental Neurotoxicology (NAS 1992) and on Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children (NAS 1993).

The report of the NAS committee that Landrigan chaired on pesticides and children's health was instrumental in securing passage of the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996, the major federal pesticide law in the United States. In New York City, he served on the Mayor's Advisory Committee to Prevent Childhood Lead Paint Poisoning and on the Childhood Immunization Advisory Committee. He is chair of the New York State Advisory Council on Lead Poisoning Prevention. From 1995 to 1997, Landrigan served on the Presidential Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veteran's Illnesses. In 1997 and 1998, he served as senior advisor on children's health to the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). He was responsible at the U.S. EPA for helping to establish a new Office of Children's Health Protection."

Hopefully Dr. Insel and the IACC will take seriously the warning sounded by Dr. Landrigan. With his qualifications and experience his is a voice that should be heeded if we are to ever find out what is happening to our children, what is causing them to develop so many neurodevelomental disorders in such alarming numbers.  Rooting endlessly through the genetic family histories of autistic children has not  helped.  Fudging the facts, distorting the picture by periodic DSM changes will not help our children. It is time the IACC and other public health authorities joined respected voices like Dr. Landrigan, Dr. Irva Hertz-Picciotto, Dr. Jon Poling and others who have called for research into the environmental causes of autism disorders.  

Autism is rising. It is time to quit the genetic stalling game and find out why.

The Time is Now to Redress the Autism Research Imbalance

As with many complex disorders, causation is generally thought to involve some forms of genetic risk interacting with some forms of non-genetic environmental exposure. The balance of genetic risk and environmental exposure likely varies across the spectrum of ASD.  ..........  Researchers are working to better understand the interaction of genetic vulnerability with developmental experiences, such as a specific environmental exposure. While gene-environment interactions have been hypothesized to play a role in many medical disorders, these interactions have been difficult to prove or disprove beyond statistical tests showing that some genetic subgroups have a greater response to some environmental factor. ............ Progress in identifying environmental factors which increase autism risk has been made recently (Eskenazi et al., 2007; Palmer et al., 2006; Palmer, Blanchard, & Wood, 2009; Rauh et al., 2006; Roberts et al., 2007; Windham et al., 2006), although this area of research has received less scientific attention and far fewer research dollars than genetic risk factors. Environmental factors may be pertinent not only to brain development but also to chronic systemic features of at least some subgroups of ASD.

- The 2010 Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee Strategic Plan for Autism Spectrum Disorder Research - January 19, 2010, Question 3: What Caused This To Happen and Can It Be Prevented?

The 2010 IACC Strategic Plan  statement  that environmentally focused autism research has been under funded and largely ignored could properly be characterized as a long overdue confession by the autism research establishment.  Autism research has been  focused overwhelmingly on genetic causes of autism to the near exclusion of environmentally focused research. for well over a decade with potentially serious consequences for our current understanding of possible autism causes and treatments.   Given that imbalance it is perfectly understandable that few potential environmental causes of autism have been identified or confirmed through research.  If we don't open our eyes and look, if we don't do the research, then we will not find environmental causes of autism.

The overwhelming imbalance in favor of genetically based autism research was identified over a decade ago by  researcher Teresa Binstock in her 1999 description of the  "It's gotta be genetic" autism research paradigm.  Binstock  pointed to the culprit -  the old guard network that insisted that autism research be genetically focused in order to have any hope of receiving public funded research dollars:

My own hunch is that the NIH and NIMH will not change from within; the senior practitioners of the "it's gotta be genetic" model have too much influence. Just as Semmelweiss and his data were suppressed, so too will the NIH/NIMH autism-research insiders continue to act against the the growing body of new data in autism; the NIH's pro-genetic old-timers will cling to their paradigm and its funding. As a result, change within the NIH and NIMH will have to be initiated from outside those tax-supported corporations.

-Teresa Binstock, 1999, IGNAZ SEMMELWEISS and AUTISM: when prevailing paradigms resist change

The imbalance in favor of genetic over environmental focused autism research has resulted in a call for more balance from many sources and hopefully that call will result in more than lip service.  There have been signs of an autism research paradigm shift over the past few years from the purely genetic model of autism to one which looks at autism as the result of a genetic and environmental interaction but the pace of change has been far slower than first hoped as pointed out by the 2010 IACC Strategic Plan above , by Dr. Irva Hertz-Picciotto and by Dr. Jon Poling.

Too much time has been wasted on the irrational insistence that autism research must be genetically focused.  We have lost the knowledge that years of more balanced autism research, with greater attention to potential environmental factors, might have given us. We must find that balance as we move  forward or more knowledge, and possibly treatments and cures, will continue to be lost.

Environmentally focused autism research must receive more attention and funding. Even the IACC has recognized the imbalance in favor of genetic over environmentally focused research. 

It is now time to redress the imbalance. 

autism

Autism Rising in Chicago: Tribune Investigation Determines Autism Increase is Real

For the most part the article Autism treatments: Risky alternative therapies have little basis in science goes over old ground in attacking alternative autism therapies. At times it appears that the article is actually going to send current autism knowledge back to 1999 when Teresa Binstock outed the medical establishment for insisting that only genetic based autism research receive scarce funding dollars and that , by implication, environmental factors played no role in causing autism.

All of a sudden, almost out of the blue, the Tribune investigative report answers in the affirmative a question many have been asking by declaring that the startling rates of increase in autism over the past decade are real:

Chelation's popularity as a treatment for autism is driven by the unproven idea that the disorder is tied to accumulation of heavy metals in the body. Mercury, once common in vaccines as part of a preservative called thimerosal, is often pegged as the culprit. Yet the federal Institute of Medicine reported in 2004 that a review of dozens of studies had failed to show a link between vaccines, thimerosal and autism. Subsequent studies also found no connection. After thimerosal was removed from childhood vaccines except for some flu shots, autism diagnoses continued to rise.

Congratulations to the Chicago Tribune for its investigation confirming that autism is indeed rising; that the increases in autism are indeed real. Since genetics can not explain these startling increases it should be clear, based on the Chicago Tribune's conclusion, that the autism increase is real, that environmental factors have to be involved in causing autism disorders. Maybe the Tribune can now do an investigative piece explaining why health authorities have discouraged environmentally based autism research over the past decade and more.

Maybe if health authorities pushed research of some of those potential environmental causes or triggers they could find cures and parents would not be left on their own trying to help their autistic children without the benefit of help from, and usually under attack by, scientific and health authorities.

Maybe.

autism

Autism Rising: 1 in 100 US Children Have an Autism Disorder

The images above are taken from the autism section of the 2007 US National Survey of Children's Health and indicate that 1 in 100 American children in the 2 to 17 age range have an autism spectrum disorder. That figure is yet another startling indication of the existence of a real autism crisis. Those who deny that environmental factors cause, in whole or in part, autism disorders, will have less and less credibility as 1% of American children are reported autistic. The expanded definition of autism disorders to include Aspergers Disorder in 1993-1994 is irrelevant to an increase from 1 in 150 reported by the CDC in the past few years to 1 in 100 now as reported by the NSCH. The 1 in 100 figure is in line with the UK figures as well although there a recent study suggests the actual rate may be closer to 1 in 58.

This new report is startling but where is the mainstream media on this? Why is the same media that have been busy ridiculing parents who question possible vaccine autism connections silent when public authorities provide information showing dramatic increases in autism? Since my son was diagnosed with autism in 1998 the reported figures for autism have changed from 1 in 500 to 1 in 250 to 1 in 166 to 1 in 100. Does the 1993-4 diagnositc definition change really explain fully the relentless increase in reported cases of autism over the past decade from 1999 to 2009?

And why are people like Dr. Tom Insel of the Inter Agency Autism Coordinating Committee silent? Autism researcher Teresa Binstock pointed out in 1999 that autism research funding allocations had been weighted heavily in favor of the "it's gotta be genetic" model of autism research funding allocations. The authors of the recent University of California Davis study which suggested environmental factors were involved in the increasing autism numbers in California have highlighted the neglected funding for environmental autism research:

“Right now, about 10 to 20 times more research dollars are spent on studies of the genetic causes of autism than on environmental ones. We need to even out the funding,” Hertz-Picciotto said."

Over the past decade the numbers of autism cases have skyrocketed and yet the autism research funding still reflects the "it's gotta be genetic" model that Binstock outed in 1999. What is wrong with this picture? What is wrong with the decision makers who refuse to authorize funding to research environmental causes of autism? Do they have conflicts of interest that tie their hands or are they just too stubborn and tied to outdated paradigms to change?

In his recent appearance before Senator Harkin's subcommittee Dr. Insel desperately insisted that a comparative study of vaccinated and unvaccinated populations could not be done for ethical reasons even though unvaccinated populations already exist in the US and even though contrary statements have been made by people like Dr. Bernadine Healy, Dr. Julie Gerberding, and Dr. Duane Alexander. I DO NOT allege ANY conflicts of interest on the part of Dr. Insel. He seemed more like a true believer who does not have an open mind to arguments that challenge his views about vaccine safety.

Autism research funding has been heavily weighted toward genetic causes of autism. It is time to provide some balance as researcher Irva Hertz-Picciotto said and conduct environmentally based autism research. It is time to research all possible environmental causes of autism, including possible vaccine factors, as Dr. Jon Poling has stated.

autism

Autism Rising: Autism Rates Higher Near Toxic Dump Sites

The ideologically based belief that autism is entirely genetic has been taking a beating in the past few years as an Autism Research Paradigm Shift has been taking place which focuses more attention on the possible environmental factors involved in causing autism disorders. And the evidence of possible environmental causes or triggers of autism disorders continues to accumulate.

The UC Davis Mind Institute study is a recent highlight of this shift towards open examination of environmental triggers and factors contributing to the increasing diagnoses of autism disorders. The The Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee Strategic Plan for Autism Spectrum Disorder Research - January 26, 2009 essentially codified the Autism Research Paradigm Shift with numerous elements of its Strategic Plan emphasizing possible environmental contributors and causes of autism disorders.

Now Catherine DeSoto has published a correlational study, Ockman's Razor and Autism: The case for developmental neurotoxins contributing to a disease of neurodevelopment, at Neurotoxicology doi:10.1016/j.neuro.2009.03.003 which finds that:

"within the state with the highest rate of ASD, the rate is higher for schools near EPA Superfund sites, t (332) = 3.84, p = .0001. The reasons for the rise in diagnoses likely involve genetically predisposed individuals being exposed to various environmental triggers at higher rates than in past generations.

The study is the subject of a synopsis by Heather Patisaul, Ph.D. of North Carolina State University, at Environmental Health News. Ms Patisaul explains that the Superfund sites frequently contain such pollutants as chloroethelyenes, benzene and metals (lead, mercury, cadmium, chormium, arsenic). She reports that the study found autism rates signficantly higher near the toxic Superfund Sites:

Rates of the disorder were one and a half times higher in the districts within 10 miles of the toxic sites. That translates into 1 child in 92 in districts closer to the sites compared to 1 child in 132 in the districts farther away. Schools within a 20-mile radius of Superfund sites had similar autism trends as the schools with 10 miles of the sites.

Ms Patisaul cautions that correlational studies such as this might first identify possible causal relationships but will require further information to verify any such association. Hopefully the studies necessary to verify or refute possible connections and causes will be conducted without unecessary delay.

autism

Vaccine-Autism War: Dr. Jon Poling Demolishes Credibility of Vaccine Patent Holder Dr. Paul Offit's Vaccine Safety Claims

"Fortunately, the ‘better diagnosis’ myth has been soundly debunked. In the 2009 issue of Epidemiology, two authors analyzed 1990 through 2006 California Department of Developmental Services and U.S. Census data documenting an astronomical 700 to 800 percent rise in the disorder.

These scientists concluded that only a smaller percentage of this staggering rise can be explained by means other than a true increase.

Because purely genetic diseases do not rise precipitously, the corollary to a true autism increase is clear — genes only load the gun and it is the environment that pulls the trigger. Autism is best redefined as an environmental disease with genetic susceptibilities."

Dr. John Poling, Atlanta Journal Constitution, March 13, 2009

Every cause needs its champions.

One such champion for the cause of parents seeking answers about their children's autism disorders and the growing autism epidemic is Dr. Jon Poling a neurologist and assistant professor at the Medical College of Georgia whose daughter, Hannah Poling, has been a successful petitioner in the US National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. That case in itself stands in defiance of the vaccine propaganda campaign, led by vaccine patent holder Dr. Paul Offit, which has decreed falsely that science has decided conclusively that vaccines are safe, play no role in autism and that parents who observed autistic onset in their children after vaccinations are hysterical and deluded.

Now on Friday March 13, 2009 Dr. Jon Poling has stood up and delivered a serious blow to the credibility of vaccine patent holder Dr. Offit and others who have gone to war against concerned parents with autistic children. In a guest editorial column in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Blinders won’t reduce autism, Dr. Poling calls into question Dr. Offit's autism expertise, or lack thereof, his lack of scientific objectivity and his smear campaign against parents of autistic children who have witnessed their children develop autism after vaccinations.

Blinders won't reduce autism should be must reading for anyone involved with, or interested in, the vaccine-autism war. It should actually be ordered as mandatory reading by editors at such media outlets as the New York Times, Globe and Mail and the CBC which have decreed an ened to further inquiry on the vaccine-autism connection or promoted mindlessly the pro-vaccine campaign of vaccine patent holder Dr. Paul Offit.

With strong voices like Dr. Jon Poling, Dr. Bernadine Healy, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and David Kirby the truth might yet be known about the environmental causes of autism, including any possible vaccine factors that might be involved in triggering autism in some children. They will have to continue the fight for knowledge against those, like vaccine patent holder Paul Offit, and journalist Andre Picard, who scream imperiously that further inquiry must cease. Let us hope they prevail.

autism

Simon Baron-Cohen Reiterates: Autism Results From Genetic AND Environmental Factors

Psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen of the Cambridge University Autism Research Centre has reiterated his previously stated position that autism results from the interaction of genetic AND environmental factors. In an exchange with a parent published on the One Click Group site Professor Baron-Cohen stated:

The One-Click Group seems to be a website for those who want to see more research into environmental risk factors in autism, and to me this seems to be a very worthy agenda. We know that autism is not 100% genetic in origin, since in the case of identical twins (who share 100% of their genes), there are instances of one twin having autism and the other not having it. In fact, the likelihood of the co-twin also having autism where one of them has it (in monozygotic (MZ) pairs) is about 60%. This means that there must be some non-genetic (i.e., environmental) factors that are part of the cause of autism. ...... I hope the above statement shows clearly and unambiguously that I regard autism as most likely the result of a gene-environment interaction.

Professor Baron-Cohen made the same point in a December 2007 interview piece published on TimesOnLine, Freedom of Expression:

Studies of twins have established that it is not 100 per cent genetic, since even among identical twins, when one has autism, the likelihood of both twins having autism is only about 60 per cent. This means there must also be an environmental component, but what it is remains unknown.

Professor Baron-Cohen's logic appears unimpeachable. Perhaps someone could convey the Professor's views to the US Department of Health and Human Services Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) which decided to reverse its own recent decision to authorize funding research of potential environmental causes of autism, including vaccines. While they are at it perhaps they could also convey Professor Baron-Cohen's reasoning to the bloggers at the new ASAN media center at autism.change.org where they believe, as an article of faith, that autism is genetic.

autism

Environmental Causes of Autism - It Is Time To Get The Research Done

The new UC Davis Mind Institute study indicating the likelihood of environmental factors in the dramatic increases in autism cases in California is a step forward in the still developing autism research paradigm shift that investigates autism disorders and their causes from the perspective that autism is caused by a combination of environmental influence and genetic vulnerabilities:

Autism research is poised for another paradigm shift, from an irreversible condition to a treatable disease. In the revolutionary paradigm, autism is not a rare disorder with a constant rate but frequent condition with a rising incidence. It is a combination of environmental influence and genetic vulnerabilities. It is both preventable and treatable, not by any one method but by a combination of behavioral and biomedical approaches. Autistic kids are not defective, they are sick but otherwise normal kids, and thus, recoverable. 

University of Minnesota, Press Release, July 2007

The move to a combined environmental-genetic research model seems to be long overdue. The vaccine-autism controversy may well have pushed public authorities away from possible environmental causes of autism generally but it is difficult to understand why anyone ever assumed that autism is entirely genetically determined. In a December 2007 interview piece published on TimesOnLine, Freedom of Expression, Professor Simon Baron-Cohen made the following salient observiation:

Studies of twins have established that it is not 100 per cent genetic, since even among identical twins, when one has autism, the likelihood of both twins having autism is only about 60 per cent. This means there must also be an environmental component, but what it is remains unknown. 

The vaccine-autism controversies have generated entrenched positions and ideologies on all sides of those controversies.  One of the unfortunate tendencies has been a tendency to berate and ridicule any mention of possible environmental causes of autism disorders. Another has been a focus on genetic research to the near exclusion of environmental factors.  That has begun to change, as called for in the University of Minnesota 2007 press release but the change is not as fast as it could be.  

The vaccines we give children still contain the mercury based preservative thimerosal, according to the FDA web site and children are exposed to a variety of toxic materials in toys and jewelry including mercury, lead, and arsenic.  If specific environmental factors are causing or contributing to autism, whether in isolation, or in concert, then preventative measures can be taken and research into curing autism can, and should,  incorporate those factors.

It is time to drop the rigid, ideological belief that autism is 100% genetic and get the environmental research done to help our children.

autism

Autism Rising - UC Davis Mind Institute Study Points To Environmental Factors

Although Classics Professor Kristina Chew, ASAN co-founder Dora Raymaker, and the once progressive Change.org have decreed that autism is most likely entirely genetic, with no environmental contributing factors, recent research says otherwise. The UC Davis MIND Institute has published a news release of a study indicating that the dramatic rise in California autism cases probably arises from environmental factors. The news release also calls for an autism research paradigm shift from simplistic focus on genetic causes of autism to an examination of both genetic and environmental factors. ... with the funding necessary to fully implement the shift. In fact UC Davis Mind Institute has already been a leader in this autism research paradigm shift with its CHARGE program, a major epidemiological study investigating environmental factors and gene-environment interactions in autism disorders.

January 7, 2009 (SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — A study by researchers at the UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute has found that the seven- to eight-fold increase in the number children born in California with autism since 1990 cannot be explained by either changes in how the condition is diagnosed or counted — and the trend shows no sign of abating.

Published in the January 2009 issue of the journal Epidemiology, results from the study also suggest that research should shift from genetics to the host of chemicals and infectious microbes in the environment that are likely at the root of changes in the neurodevelopment of California’s children.

“It’s time to start looking for the environmental culprits responsible for the remarkable increase in the rate of autism in California,” said UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute researcher Irva Hertz-Picciotto, a professor of environmental and occupational health and epidemiology and an internationally respected autism researcher. .... Hertz-Picciotto said that the study is a clarion call to researchers and policy makers who have focused attention and money on understanding the genetic components of autism. She said that the rise in cases of autism in California cannot be attributed to the state’s increasingly diverse population because the disorder affects ethnic groups at fairly similar rates.

...

“Right now, about 10 to 20 times more research dollars are spent on studies of the genetic causes of autism than on environmental ones. We need to even out the funding,” Hertz-Picciotto said.

autism