The 85% Problem: Autism Disorders and DNA Damaged Sperm In Our Chemical Society

Are autism disorders, and other neurological developmental disorders, caused by DNA damaged sperm?

Concerned heart is a blogger who authors several blogs dealing with paternal age and dramatic increases in a number of disorders including autism, ADHD and schizophrenia. She posts many articles linking paternal age with declining sperm quality and increased rates of disorders including autism, ADHD and schizophrenia.

The CBC documentary The Disappearing Male reports the impact on males of our chemical based society including declining sperm quality. On the accompanying CBC web site page Factsheet: Male Infertility are some of the startling facts from that documentary:

• The average sperm count of a North American college student today is less than half of what it was 50 years ago.
• The quality of sperm is declining. Eighty-five per cent of the sperm produced by a healthy male is DNA-damaged.
• The chemical industry has developed more than 90,000 man-made chemicals in the last sixty years. Eighty-five percent of them have never undergone testing for their impact on the human body.
  

85%? If autism is related to declining sperm quality as suggested by dramatically higher rates of autism amongst children of fathers over 35 at the time of conception and if 85% of sperm is damaged, even amongst college age males, from chemical exposures, is it any wonder that we are seeing increases in autism, adhd, learning disabilities, Tourett's syndrome, cerebral palsy and dyslexia as reported by the CBC?

With 85% of sperm being DNA damaged is the human species already damaged beyond repair?

If we allow the conditions that result in such incredibly high rates of DNA damaged sperm to continue unchecked will humanity as we know it continue to exist?

Autistic children are not just "natural variations". They may quite literally be the canaries in the coal mine of our chemical society.

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Autism and Paternal Age

Paternal age is emerging as a potential cause or causal factor giving rise to autism. On this site, (as a father whose autistic son was conceived when I was 41), I have received several posts from a blogger/poster who has focussed on this issue . In Australia, couriermail.com.au reports that researchers at the Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research have found:

"adult mice born to older fathers have differently shaped brains and are generally more anxious and less adventurous than those fathered by younger animals. ... brain scans of the mice showed those born to older fathers had thicker cerebral cortexes."

The research team's senior investigator, John McGrath explains that "What we've found in the mice is reminiscent of autism because there's some reasonable evidence about early brain overgrowth in autism". McGrath also stated that the results need to be replicated before they are given scientific validity.

The couriermail.com.au article by reporter Janelle Niles states that previous population studies have found a six-times increased likelihood of autism than those born to dads in their 20's. Unlike my friends at Autism Street I am no statistician but on a common sense level, if the article information is correct, a six-times increased likelihood of autism in offspring for Dad's in their 40's compared to Dads in their 20's would seem to be .... statistically significant ... one which should be the focus of further research.

autism

Kaiser Permanente Study - Autism Risk Rises with Ages of Moms & Dads

Risk of Autism Rises With Age of Moms, Dads


2007-04-02 22:05:06 -

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OAKLAND, Calif., April 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Men and women who wait to have babies later in life may increase their children's risk for autism, according to a Kaiser Permanente study featured in the April issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

The study investigated 132,844 children born at Kaiser Permanente hospitals in its Northern California region over a five-year period (1995-1999) and identified 593 children who had been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Study results show that a mother's and father's risk of delivering a child with autism steadily increases as they get older. Women ages 40 and older showed a 30 percent increase in risk for having a child with autism (1 in 123), when compared to moms between the ages of 25 and 29 (1 in 156). Men ages 40 and older had up to a 50 percent increased risk of having a child with autism (1 in 116), when compared to their 25- to 29-year-old peers (1 in 176).

Advanced age of mothers has been associated with risk of autism in several, but not all earlier studies, according to study author Lisa A. Croen, PhD, an epidemiologist at Kaiser Permanente's Division of Research in Oakland, Calif. The role of a father's age in autism has been less frequently studied, although advanced paternal age has been associated with other adverse reproductive outcomes, including miscarriage, childhood cancers, autoimmune disorders, schizophrenia and other neuro-psychiatric disorders.

"As men age, there is an increased frequency of new mutations in the cells that go on to become sperm," said Dr. Croen. "These sporadic mutations could be related to autism risk. It is possible that non-genetic factors that are more common in older parents might also account for our findings."

For reasons not fully understood, autism is on the rise, affecting on average about one in 150 children born in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which helped fund the study. The chronic, life-long condition affects the normal functioning of the brain, impacting development of social and communication skills.

While the cause of autism is unknown, there is strong scientific evidence that the condition is genetic. Environmental factors -- such as infections, medications and pesticides -- are also being investigated for their possible role in the cause of autism.

Children with autism are four more times likely to be male. According to the study, children with the disorder were also more likely to have older, more highly educated and white, non-Hispanic parents.

A growing number of autism cases several years ago caused Kaiser Permanente physicians and leaders from throughout Northern California to design a regional program that would best serve the needs of parents and children. Using best practices, the Regional Program for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) was established in 2004 under the direction of Pilar Bernal, MD.

Today, the regional program includes a team of ASD clinical champions from all of Kaiser Permanente's pediatric psychiatry and pediatric clinics in Northern California. It also includes two regional Autism Spectrum Disorders Centers, currently located in San Jose and Rancho Cordova. A third center is being planned for the Bay Area.

Research shows that early intervention can greatly improve a child's development. Kaiser Permanente provides routine autism screening for newborns to age 2 during well-baby check-ups, allowing pediatricians to refer very young children to the regional centers who they suspect may have symptoms of autism.

Dr. Croen notes the study data suggest that advanced maternal and paternal age are independently associated with ASD risk. Age effects were found to be independent of birth year and thus not explained by the increasing age of parents that has been observed in recent years. If the relationship between parental age and autism is causal, the fraction of autism in this sample attributable to having a mother or father older than 35 years is 4 percent to 13 percent, Dr. Croen says.

Future investigations are warranted that focus on the identifications of both genetic and environmental factors that correlate with advanced parental age, Dr. Croen says.

Interviews with Dr. Croen and a full-text version of the study are available upon request.

The Kaiser Permanente Division of Research conducts, publishes, and disseminates epidemiologic and health services research to improve the health and medical care of Kaiser Permanente members and the society at large. It seeks to understand the determinants of illness and well being and to improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of health care. Currently, the center's 400-plus staff is working on more than 250 epidemiological and health services research projects.

Kaiser Permanente is America's leading integrated health plan. Founded in 1945, it is a not-for-profit; group practice prepayment program headquartered in Oakland, Calif. Kaiser Permanente serves the health care needs of more than 8.6 million members in nine states and the District of Columbia. Today it encompasses the not-for-profit Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc., Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and their subsidiaries, and the for-profit Permanente Medical Groups. Nationwide, Kaiser Permanente includes approximately 156,000 technical, administrative and clerical employees and caregivers, and more than 13,000 physicians representing all specialties.

http://www.kaiserpermanente.org/

Source: Kaiser Permanente