From: unk...@googlegroups.com   
      
   By STEVEN REINBERG   
   HEALTHDAY   
   October 24, 2014, 12:25 PM   
   Something in the air could raise a child's autism risk   
      
      
   Children exposed to two air toxins -- chromium and styrene -- while in the   
   womb and during the first two years of life may have increased odds of   
   developing autism, according to a new study.   
      
   Prenatal and early exposure to the highest amounts of chromium, a heavy metal,   
   increased the risk for autism by 65 percent, said researchers from the   
   University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health.   
      
   Styrene, found in car exhaust and industrial emissions, doubled the risk for   
   the neurodevelopmental disorder, the investigators found.   
      
   Autism spectrum disorders -- a range of conditions involving social deficits   
   and communication difficulties -- affect one of every 68 children in the   
   United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and   
   Prevention.   
      
       
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   "These findings are preliminary," said lead researcher Evelyn Talbott, a   
   professor of epidemiology. She also cautioned that the study results show an   
   association between exposure to these airborne chemicals and autism, not proof   
   that they actually cause    
   autism.   
      
   "We don't know what causes autism," Talbott said. "We have little information   
   on risk factors. This is just one more piece of the puzzle."   
      
   Styrene and chromium might trigger a person's genetic predisposition to   
   autism, Talbott said.   
      
   "More and more, people are believing in gene/environment interactions," she   
   said. "We do know that about 10 percent of autism spectrum disorders run in   
   families."   
      
   Another autism expert said this link needs to be pursued.   
      
   "This study may take us one step closer to getting out of the guessing game.   
   It brings us back to considering chemicals," said Brandon Korman, chief of   
   neuropsychology at Miami Children's Hospital Brain Institute in Florida.   
      
   The unanswered question, Korman said, is what causes one child to develop   
   autism when another child does not, even though they are exposed to the same   
   pollution.   
      
   The findings of the study were presented Wednesday at the American Association   
   for Aerosol Research annual meeting in Orlando, Fla.   
      
   For the study, Talbott's group interviewed 217 families of children with   
   autism spectrum disorder. The researchers compared them with two sets of   
   families who had children without autism spectrum disorder born during the   
   same time period and within the    
   same six counties in southwestern Pennsylvania.   
      
   For each family, the team used the U.S. National Air Toxics Assessment for   
   2005 to estimate exposure to 30 pollutants known to affect the brain, glands   
   and hormones.   
      
   Of all the chemicals in the environment, styrene, chromium and, to a lesser   
   extent, cyanide stood out as most associated with autism spectrum disorder,   
   the study concluded.   
      
   Styrene is used in the manufacturing of plastics and paint, the authors said.   
   Chromium gets into the air through industrial operations, power plants and the   
   hardening of steel. Cyanide can be found in industrial emissions and car   
   exhaust.   
      
   Whether these chemicals are responsible for a particular type of autism is   
   something Talbott would like to investigate. Also of interest, she said, is   
   whether greater exposure increases the odds of developing the condition.   
      
   The data and conclusions of research presented at meetings are typically   
   considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.   
      
      
   http://www.cbsnews.com/news/air-pollution-childs-autism-risk/   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)