During the confirmation hearings for RFK Jr as the head of HHS, there was a repeatedly-voiced concern about the growing epidemic of autism. While it appears that research after an approximate year of 2014 has been stifled — so that publishing about causes of autism after 2014 has been made “difficult” — here’s research up to 2014.
2010
In this study, if was found that 74% of all 58 empirical reports on autism found a link to heavy metal toxins — even though the left panel speaks of a study originally published to disprove a connection to one heavy metal (mercury), upon further investigation, that study turned out to be a study in support of the connection.
2011
In this study, state vaccine uptake and state autism rates were analyzed, resulting in a statistically-significant relationship where, for each extra 1% of kids who got all recommended vaccines, there were an additional 680 cases of autism.
2012
In this study, if there was a high proportion of drinking water which came directly from surface water, then the rainfall amount correlated to autism. One way to interpret this curious finding is that high rainfall agitates the ground, leading to agricultural run-off, so that pesticides end up in the drinking water.
2014
In this study, suspected causes of autism were tracked over time, to see if the increasing rate of autism was being matched by an increasing exposure to a suspected cause. Five suspected causes were found to be increasing right along with autism rates. Two of these suspected causes were depicted graphically by the study:
In the image above, the exposure to aluminum as an added ingredient to vaccines — in order to help rev-up the immune response (“adjuvant”) — has enough data behind it where it cannot be ruled out as a cause of autism. Another suspected cause is the herbicide/pesticide, glyphosate:
The trend in exposure and outcome is so tightly linked that it cannot be ruled out as a cause of autism. The other 3 suspected causes which have been increasing right along with the increasing rate of autism included polybrominated diphenol ethers which act as a flame retardant and which are found in consumer goods and houshold items.
They also included total immunizations (total vaccinations) as well as maternal obesity. Given how the rates of autism have been rising exponentially, responsible leadership requires that the causes are investigated intensely, even if it makes Big Pharma or Big Agriculture get “mad” and attempt whatever push-back they can muster.
Making big corporations mad should not be among our top concerns. Protecting the health of our children should be among our top concerns, if not the #1 concern.
Reference
[heavy metals cannot be ruled out] — Desoto MC, Hitlan RT. Sorting out the spinning of autism: heavy metals and the question of incidence. Acta Neurobiol Exp (Wars). 2010;70(2):165-76. doi: 10.55782/ane-2010-1788. PMID: 20628440. https://ane.pl/index.php/ane/article/view/1788/1788
[vaccines cannot be ruled out] — Delong G. A positive association found between autism prevalence and childhood vaccination uptake across the U.S. population. J Toxicol Environ Health A. 2011;74(14):903-16. doi: 10.1080/15287394.2011.573736. PMID: 21623535. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21623535/
[toxic water cannot be ruled out] — St-Hilaire S, Ezike VO, Stryhn H, Thomas MA. An ecological study on childhood autism. Int J Health Geogr. 2012 Oct 11;11:44. doi: 10.1186/1476-072X-11-44. PMID: 23051560; PMCID: PMC3504530. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3504530/
[aluminum and glyphosate cannot be ruled out] — Nevison CD. A comparison of temporal trends in United States autism prevalence to trends in suspected environmental factors. Environ Health. 2014 Sep 5;13:73. doi: 10.1186/1476-069X-13-73. PMID: 25189402; PMCID: PMC4177682. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4177682/
[PBDE’s cannot be ruled out] — Imm P, Knobeloch L, Buelow C, Anderson HA. Household exposures to polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in a Wisconsin Cohort. Environ Health Perspect. 2009 Dec;117(12):1890-5. doi: 10.1289/ehp.0900839. Epub 2009 Aug 4. PMID: 20049208; PMCID: PMC2799463. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2799463/