autism (Page 5)

…And May Affect Adults as Well! – US researchers studying hospital records in Sweden have discovered that parents of children with autism were roughly twice as likely to have been hospitalized for a mental disorder, such as schizophrenia, than parents of other children. Doctors know that autism is genetic, although it is TRIGGERED by exposure to heavy metals. This new finding may mean that ADULTS are affected by heavy metal pollution too. The message? We have to clean up our air.
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The rise in autism levels may well be due to heavy metals from POWER PLANTS – How do mercury emissions affect pregnant mothers, the unborn and toddlers? Do the level of emissions impact autism rates? Does it matter whether a mercury-emitting source is 10 miles away from families versus 20 miles? A new study shows that the risk of autism may be greater for children who live closer to the pollution source.
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Autism is believed to be a disease that is triggered when genetically susceptible children are exposed to an unknown toxin. This was originally thought to be the mercury in thimerisol vaccine preservatives, but autism rates have continued to rise, even though thimerisol and mercury have been largely phased out as vaccine preservatives. Now evidence has appeared that autism might have a stronger genetic component than previously believed.

This is because the mothers of two children in New York, both of whom have autistic children, turn out to have had the same sperm donor. While sperm banks will not reveal the identity of donors, there is a website called Donor Sibling Registry which can arrange meetings between offspring of the same donors.
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Autism is mysterious, because we know that its cause is partly environmental and partly genetic, but it’s hard to pinpoint each part of the puzzle. Researchers have used the age when a child speaks his first word as a tool for identifying a new gene linked to autism. And the question of whether vaccines cause the condition just won’t go away.

Researchers have discovered that a gene that is most active in the brain regions involved with language and thought is also involved in this syndrome. Researcher Daniel Geschwind says, “This gene?may predispose children to autism.”
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