A problem with determining effects of chemicals is that they interact. We are exposed to many chemicals, and one that might have a slight effect by itself could have a much larger effect when other chemicals are present.http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/newscience/2014/mar/autism/
Mar 20, 2014
Braun JM, AE Kalkbrenner, AC Just, K Yolton, AM Calafat, A Sjödin, R Hauser, GM Webster, A Chen, BP Lanphear. 2014. Gestational exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals and reciprocal social, repetitive, and stereotypic behaviors in 4- and 5-year-old children: The HOME Study. Environmental Health Perspectives. http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1307261.
Synopsis by Lindsey Konkel
Children exposed in the womb to higher levels of a flame retardant and a chemical in a banned pesticide exhibited slightly more autistic behaviors in a new study.
Previous research has linked changes in children’s brain development to their mothers’ exposure to hormone-disrupting environmental chemicals. But few of these studies have looked specifically at whether they contribute to autism.
Scientists suspect that hormones may play a role in autism because boys are four times more likely than girls to be diagnosed with the disease, and several hormones are known to control brain development.
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Children whose mothers had the highest levels of the brominated flame retardant PBDE-28 scored an average of 2.5 points higher on the scale than children whose mothers had the lowest exposures. Children whose moms had the highest levels of trans-nonachlor – a component of the banned pesticide chlordane – scored an average of 4.1 points higher.
The increase in autism-like behaviors linked to the two chemicals is considered slight, and the study doesn’t prove that they are tied to the autistic behaviors.
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