Although it may not be on the headlines, autism is becoming a disorder of concern. I am currently taking a psychology class that focuses on childhood developmental disorders, so of course, we spent quite a bit of time studying autism. Over the years, the autistic spectrum has widened to include both low functioning, and high functioning, such as those diagnosed with Asperger’s. It is currently estimated that 1 in 68 children has some form of autism, which is quite alarming. Therefore, there is much debate over whether we are “over-diagnosing” autism, or if we are simply getting better at detecting the signs of autism.
It is currently unknown why autism occurs at all, so when I came across a particular article that discussed the connection between autism and pollution, I decided to keep an open mind. The author seemed to stick to the facts and did not strike me as being biased. The article detailed a study done by a researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee whose findings suggest that there is link between pollution and autism. Previous studies conducted in California proposed that women in their third trimester that were exposed to more pollution – especially that from vehicles – were more likely to have a child diagnosed with autism. It could be argued that the environment in California cannot be used to represent the U.S. as a whole, but that concern is addressed in the rest of the article.
Researcher Amy Kalkbrenner and her team followed on 87,000 children in North Carolina from pre-conception until the first birthday (signs of autism can be seen even in the first few months of life) and measured the pollution around the homes of the expectant mothers during certain weeks of their pregnancy. Despite being on the opposite side of the country and having a totally different environment, the results of the study done in North Carolina were similar to that of the California study, suggesting that there is indeed a connection.
The author goes on to declare that it has not been determined exactly why pollution and autism are connected, but that there is research to indicate that they indubitably are. To assume that the author is wrong means to throw out years and years of studies. However, in accepting the author’s conclusion, I ended up doing a little research and found that the most head and brain development occurs during the final months of pregnancy, so perhaps the quality of air has some connection to the fetus’ brain development in utero. If the author’s implicit advice is followed, I see no harm being done, as it will only allow for more research to be done on autism, and the effect pollution has on the planet and on our future generations.
Article can be found here.
