Nature Deficit Disorder, Autism, Flame Retardants
The Daily Green mentions flame retardants and “common cleaning products” (as in “phthalates, glycol ethers and other known toxins”) as possible environmental causes of autism. And ends with a paragraph of unfounded speculations:
Others wonder if a collective “nature deficit disorder” among children plays a factor in rising autism rates. Outdoor exposure has long been associated with healthier cognitive functioning in children, with reduction in Attention Deficit Disorder symptoms and greater emotional capacity. But new findings suggest it could impact autism, too. Last year, Cornell University researchers found higher rates of autism in counties where more households subscribed to cable and children under the age of three regularly watched TV. The Amish, with almost no exposure to TV, have little evidence of autism, notes the study.
I’m all for recycling, reducing our carbon footprint, thinking local and global. On “nature deficit disorder”: Charlie not only loves to be in the great outdoors, he is often outside, barefoot or on his bike or in the water. And when he’s inside, he’s not in the front of the TV.
We don’t have one.
Tags: amish, asd, asperger, autism, autism blog, cleaners, deficit, disabilities blog, disability, Environment, Family, family blog, Media, nature, Parenting, pdd-nos, tvRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Cause, Environment
12 opinions for Nature Deficit Disorder, Autism, Flame Retardants
Regan
Jul 7, 2008 at 3:26 pm
This is a 5-part series that Inside Bay Area did on the Hammond Holland family, chemical body burden, PDBEs, etc. back in 2005. It’s quite interesting.
http://www.insidebayarea.com/bodyburden
The correlative TV-autism manuscript, not paper, not e-print, not peer-reviewed, that refuses to die…or make it through to publication as far as I can tell from doing an occasional search for it.
Emily
Jul 7, 2008 at 3:43 pm
TH has been outside constantly since birth. It’s when he’s at his most peaceful. He’s like a Doug Peacock or somebody, on his knees, looking an inch away from the ground, poking into holes and nests, picking and gathering and collecting, and all of our children have spent much much time out of doors. TV is quite limited around here. We’ve taken them all hiking literally within days of their births, and TH’s first big hike up a mountain was when he was 8 months old. And I’m not real clear on how a developmental disorder that is present at birth gets influenced by television. And this “Amish” misinformation needs to be put to an end. It’s irresponsible.
PBDEs have been on my list of environmental exposures because of their ubiquity and ubiquitous use since the ’70s, their ungodly accumulation in women and in breastmilk, and their overwhelming presence in everything (in percent content, rather than parts per million or billion). But it’s just an idea…not something I’d grab a megaphone (or the news media) to start yammering about.
daedalus2u
Jul 7, 2008 at 7:10 pm
There were a few industrial accidents that exposed children to massive quantities of PCBs in utero, there was leakage of PCB heat transfer fluids into cooking oil. In some cases these PCBs were highly damaged by heat, which turns them into a mish-mash of endocrine disrupting chemicals.
There were pretty severe birth defects, but they didn’t look like autism.
The cable-tv connection could simply relate to how urban the area is.
Angela
Jul 7, 2008 at 11:51 pm
I find this rather laughable since *most* of the kids I know with Autism (mine included) do not like TV.
Like Charlie, Xander has been outside as much as he possibly can be since birth.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Jul 8, 2008 at 12:50 am
Outside is good—-Charlie seems not to mind the heat and bugs (at least the way his mom does).
Rebecca
Jul 8, 2008 at 9:24 am
L and K love being outside and ask for it everyday, if I haven’t let them out yet. Now we have a fence for security so they have more room. K barely talks, but when he is on the go he talks constantly, or at least tries to!! They hate being stuck inside on rainy days, or like today with the mosquitos reaching bird size. they do also like TV, but only are allowed Sesame St before school and a veggietales video for L while K and I rest in the afternoon.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Jul 8, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Scientific American reposts the post (with mention of the Amish et al.) I cited above—puzzling.
Regan
Jul 8, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Scientific American reposts the post (with mention of the Amish et al.) I cited above—puzzling
————————
That is weird, since at least to me, the article seems more like musing than anything with research teeth behind it right now.
For the record, this article and some of the discussion seems to be treating the TV manuscript as if it was a real phenomenon to worry about, rather than correlation, and somewhat indirect correlation, since it was not a log of direct viewing habits or other first-hand variables, but of such as cable subscription, and included trips to the library as a metric of viewing. It’s a hypothesis, among many, and compared to others, may not really have legs.
Desya
Jul 8, 2008 at 8:21 pm
I remember reading a few articles that suggested that, instead of TV watching the low rates of autism in the Amish communities could be because they don’t often interbreed with those outside of it.
Considering that autism may have a heavy genetic component, this would rather interesting to study. Perhaps autism is a combination of two parents with “more autistic like” genes coming together. Since those in the Amish world often don’t mix with anyone other than their village, if the gene is not already floating within it, it’s unlikely it will enter.
Ah, but whatever…
But besides all that, I was a very active child as well. Rode bikes, played tag, skating, the normal kid activities. Sure I watched TV like any other, but there was definitely a balance. Still happened to be autistic.
Really, it’s time people stopped blaming TV watching for the worlds problems…-_-’
Kristina Chew, PhD
Jul 8, 2008 at 8:34 pm
The TV/autism article seems to be having its half-life—–the authors uploaded it to their website, before actual publication, and the Wall Street Journal did a front page article. I think the correlations were primarily based on observations of one autistic child or only a few, if more.
Daughter of the Ring of Fire » Blog Archive » Autism as Convenient Receptacle
Jul 10, 2008 at 4:44 pm
[…] Autism Vox links to yet another example of autism-epidemic rhetoric being used to push a green agenda. I could, in response, note how my own anecdotal experience contradicts the absurd notion of “nature deficit disorder”. Despite multitudes of summer (and occasional off-season) family camping trips and weeks at resident camp once I reached elementary-school age, I remained my Aspie self and grew into a rather bizarre adult accordingly. […]
Kristina Chew, PhD
Jul 12, 2008 at 10:25 am
And the article’s been reposted in Popular Science—–”popular” science, indeed.
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