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A list of chemicals that cause autism
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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American researchers from the Mount Sina School of Medicine published a list of ten chemicals that have every chance to be responsible for the development of autism in children. Scientists call for a focus on research that will provide an opportunity to identify possible exogenous causes of this ailment and other neurodegenerative diseases.
Autism is diagnosed in 400-600 thousand toddlers of 4 million children each year born in the United States. According to the American National Academy of Sciences, 3% of all neurobehavioral diseases in children, including an autistic disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, are triggered by poisoning from the environment, and 25% by the interaction of the environment with a genetic predisposition. However, clear exogenous root causes are still unknown. Although genetic studies have shown that autism spectrum disorders and some other disorders that are associated with neurological development have a powerful hereditary component, almost everyone believes that the environment also plays a big role.
Experts have attempted to assess the role of toxins in the development of autism, since knowing the exogenous circumstances of ailments associated with neurological development will make it possible to avoid such disorders.
The top ten possible culprits of autism included lead, methylmercury, polychlorinated biphenyls, organophosphorus pesticides, organochlorine pesticides, endocrine disrupters, automobile exhausts, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, brominated flame retardants and perfluorinated compounds.
Calls of scientists to conduct research to identify the exogenous root causes of autism are contained in four more works. One study, conducted by workers from the Wisconsin-Milwaukee Institute, found preliminary evidence of the relationship between smoking during pregnancy with Asperger's syndrome and other forms of autism. Two works conducted by scientists from the California Institute in Davis, demonstrated that polychlorinated biphenyls disrupt the development of the brain. In the end, the same team found that between the action of pesticides and autism there is a relationship
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