Autism & the Environment

Autism: It's the Environment, Not Just Doctors Diagnosing More Disease

California's sevenfold increase in autism cannot be explained by changes in doctors' diagnoses and most likely is due to environmental exposures, University of California scientists reported [last month.]

The scientists who authored the new study advocate a nationwide shift in autism research to focus on an array of potential factors in the environment that babies and fetuses are exposed to, including pesticides, viruses and chemicals in household products.

"It's time to start looking for the environmental culprits responsible for the remarkable increase in the rate of autism in California," said Irva Hertz-Picciotto, an epidemiology professor at University of California, Davis who led the study.

Click here to read the full article by author Marla Cone, executive editor of Environmental Health News, which compiles media and original reporting on health and environmental topics.