What are the Children’s Centers finding out about the role of environmental factors in autism?
The majority of cases of autism seem likely to arise from a combination of as-yet unidentified genetic and environmental factors. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 1 in 150 U.S. children have some form of autism (also referred to as Autism Spectrum Disorders, or ASD). Surveys in the state of California indicate an apparent 210% increase in the cases of profound autism in children diagnosed over the last 10 years. There is growing concern from parents and health professionals that prenatal and postnatal exposure to xenobiotic factors (such as mercury, polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, halogenated aromatics, and pesticides) and biotic factors (such as vaccine antigens) may act synergistically with susceptibility-genetic factors to produce ASD. Two of the Children’s Centers are focusing their research on this important area of children’s health. The University of California, Davis (UC Davis) Center for the Study of Environmental Factors in the Etiology of Aut
