Topic: 10 Suspect Causes of Autism?

[Neon Genesis]

MSNBC has an article on their health site that claims that autism isn't just caused by genetics anymore and lists ten suspected causes of autism but how reliable is this article?  I could almost buy some of their claims like the claim DDT causes autism but a lot of their claims sound like either an excuse to promote organic fruit woo and general paranoia.  If we believe this article, then just about everything you touch from driving a car to using electronics will somehow cause you to have autism but the alarmism of this article makes me skeptical: http://health.msn.com/kids-health/10-suspect-causes-of-autism-and-learning-disabilities?imageindex=1

[Tatyana]

MSNBC has an article on their health site that claims that autism isn't just caused by genetics anymore and lists ten suspected causes of autism but how reliable is this article?  I could almost buy some of their claims like the claim DDT causes autism but a lot of their claims sound like either an excuse to promote organic fruit woo and general paranoia.  If we believe this article, then just about everything you touch from driving a car to using electronics will somehow cause you to have autism but the alarmism of this article makes me skeptical: http://health.msn.com/kids-health/10-suspect-causes-of-autism-and-learning-disabilities?imageindex=1

There are very few 100% genetic disorders, I can only think of two off the top of my head, retinoblastoma and Huntington's disease.

Every other pathology(and most traits) are  ALWAYS an interaction of genes and the environment.

I don't think it is unreasonable to avoid certain chemicals in infants and toddlers, they really don't have the same capacity as adults to deal with them.

We recommend that pregnant women avoid things like unpasteurised dairy and that infants avoid things like honey.

Why not avoid some environmental chemicals?

[Neon Genesis]

I admitted in the opening that I think it's reasonable to suspect something like DDT to cause autism but I'm skeptical of their solution that your kids should eat only organic vegetables because eating regular vegetables comes with a risk of eating autism.  I mean, if eating regular vegetables came with this risk of causing autism, wouldn't we be seeing a majority of American kids suffering from autism?

[LumpyFish]

Have cases of autism risen in countries other than the US in the past decade?

[TheDJ536]

Hoagland has to be one of my favorite psuedoscientists, its really all just a bunch  of technobabblee soup with almost no basis in anything

[daemonowner]

I was under the impression we knew shit-all about what caused autism?

[Johnny Slick]

Have cases of autism risen in countries other than the US in the past decade?

There's definitely been a rise in the UK, which was the lynchpin of the autism scare. Granted, in both countries and throughout the world the reason autism is "going up" isn't necessarily because more people are actually autistic but because testing has become more refined and inclusive (back in the old days a lot of borderline autistic/Asperger's syndrome people would just be called "odd" and not given a gameplan to deal with their "oddness"), but no, the US is definitely not alone.

[LumpyFish]

You also have to wonder if the criteria for autism have been broadened?

[Tatyana]

I was under the impression we knew shit-all about what caused autism?

We do know what causes (off the top of my head), something like 4% of cases, which is an intra-uterine assault of the foetus by infections like rubella (the irony)
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/11/340

as well as cytomegalovirus, fragile X syndrome.

I think there is another infectious cause, but I can't remember.

[Haricots]

I was under the impression we knew shit-all about what caused autism?

You can still study the degree of influence that genes have even if you have no idea what the mechanism is.
Twin studies have shown that it is highly heritable, especially if you broaden the definition of an "autism trait" a lot to include traits that are not really problematic. (So, siblings might become a computer geek that is a bit socially awkward)

But it can still be true that drinking wheat juice, hugging lambs and eating only raw foods would eliminate every case of autism. All we can know from studies like is that it is true that it is highly heritable under the conditions that are typical now.
It might not seem as likely though...

[Tatyana]

A more science focused link to the same story:

Top Ten Toxic Chemicals Suspected to Cause Autism and Learning Disabilities

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120425140118.htm

[lonely moa]

Obesity wasn't mentioned in that story.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_123869.html