Yet another (environmental) cause for autism
Even when definitive evidence is presented that vaccines do not cause autism, plenty of theories proposing various other environmental agents and toxins remain. Some other candidates I have mentioned here are: electronic devices such as cell phones, air pollution, and ultrasounds. A post in today’s Omega-News on the dangers of electropollution conflates these various causes and refers specifically to the rise in the prevalence of autism as a sign of these environmental ills:
The explosion of wireless technology has brought with it a totally new form of dangerous radiation called electropollution. Humanity is now exposed to more than 100 million times more radiation than just two decades ago.
………
The most vulnerable are the children. Their cells are still growing and are filled with more fluid, thus the radiation can penetrate much faster into their cells. Disney got in the game big time recently with offers of family plans and a kid starter plans targeted to 8-to-12 year-olds. An 8-year-old child who gets a cell phone will by age 28 have used a cell phone for longer than anyone to date. Consider this: In 1970, one out of 10,000 children were diagnosed with autism. Last year, one in 166 children were diagnosed with autism. Many scientists and some doctors are now trying to get the word out that we are now starting to see genetic damage that is weakening our children’s cells, thus causing many more health challenges such as autism.
It seems that a correlation (and a rather loose one at that) is made between the rise in cell phone use and the resulting greater volume of radiation in the atmosphere, and a rise in the prevalence of autism. Somehow this increase in radiation is seeping into “our children’s cells” (whether while a child is in utero or after birth is not specified), without further substantiation and without noting the possibility of a change in the diagnostic criteria for autism, and in better understanding of what autism is.
The question I keep returning to is, why do these sorts of environmental theories of what causes autism proliferate, and much more so (it seems) than actual knowledge about autism? Is there something in the air………
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POSTED IN: Diagnosis, Environment, Vaccines
14 opinions for Yet another (environmental) cause for autism
Club 166
Feb 7, 2007 at 1:34 pm
In some ways, this is similar to the past.
For a long time TV’s were thought to be the cause of many maladies because of the radiation they emit.
Brett
Feb 7, 2007 at 2:04 pm
Kristina,
Though I came across this from a different source (Dave Snowden at Cognitive Edge in the context of complex human systems), I think it is relevant to your thoughts here. Emphasis is mine.
“Humans tend to premature convergence (seeing a pattern too quickly before it is stable) and also to retrospective coherence (implying past causality where there was none). Both of these tendencies are pervasive and dangerous.”
Daisy
Feb 7, 2007 at 6:03 pm
The remedy is simple. Don’t drink the water, don’t breathe the air. At that point, cell phone use would be irrelevant.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Feb 7, 2007 at 8:45 pm
There was that “TV causes autism” hypothesis back in the fall……I often wonder if a message soon will be “don’t eat the food because it grows in the air and that HAS to be polluted.”
tigufsupmet
Feb 8, 2007 at 1:37 pm
Also dangerous: Calling everything poo-poo, before first sniffing.
Julia
Feb 10, 2007 at 1:01 am
Brett - thanks for passing that along.
Daisy - :D Or ::headdesk::. Not sure which.
Maureen
Feb 11, 2007 at 11:54 am
Interesting theory on the use of cell-phones…I still think a lot has to do with the vaccines–the agent thimerosal in particular. Even though they have taken the component out of vaccines, there is evidence of it elsewhere. Thimerosal is actually a perservative–it was used in the vaccines when they would draw a small amount out of a big bottle to administer (now they have them in individual doses.) If thimerosal (being a perservative) was causing so much damage (hypothetically), how much damage does the perservatives in other foods do to a child’s growing brain? Oatmeal creame pies, Lunchables, McDonalds Hamburgers, white bread, etc. I think that is worth the thought.
Julia
Feb 11, 2007 at 12:13 pm
We avoid a number of preservatives because I (and my youngest son) react to them with intestinal distress. NOT fun. (Not horribly intense distress, but it’s a good idea to avoid something that’s going to give you a mild bellyache for 1-2 hours sometime after you eat it.)
Preservatives other than natural ones (sugar, honey) maybe aren’t such a good idea. (Honey is wonderful stuff, if you’re old enough to be eating it….)
Kristina Chew, PhD
Feb 11, 2007 at 2:17 pm
Here I will reveal that, in part because I am from Oakland and Berkeley–northern California—we eat a fairly junk food free diet. There are Oreos and Wonder Bread here—for my in-laws.
mahesh
Feb 22, 2007 at 9:59 am
yes i agree with this & the great thing is kid starter plans targeted to 8-to-12 year-olds. An 8-year-old child who gets a cell phone will by age 28 have used a cell phone for longer than anyone to date. Consider this: In 1970, one out of 10,000 children were diagnosed with autism. Last year, one in 166 children were diagnosed with autism.
for the same abt cellCell Phone Radiation and the Increase in Brain Cancer
people appear to have an almost pathological emotional attachment to their cell phones and there is a fascinating suggestion that cell radiation pulses might actually be addictive to the human brain
i suggest this site to visit
Cellphoneradiation
Darryl
Mar 13, 2007 at 4:43 pm
I have never owned a cell phone…how’s that for just barely on topic? :-)
Kristina Chew, PhD
Mar 13, 2007 at 4:45 pm
It must say something………I am rather glued to mine!
Autism Vox » Cell Phones and Electromagnetic Radiation Correlated to Autism—and that’s all
Apr 16, 2007 at 8:18 pm
[…] noted a theory connecting cell phone, ipods, and other small electronic devices to autism; back in February I noted a claim that electropollution could be an environmental cause for autism. Today’s […]
jackie
Jun 25, 2008 at 4:20 am
As of now, cause of my daughters autism is not that important for me, what really matter is how to take her out that “shell” and help her to halp herself live independantly.
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