March 30th, 2012
NewsRescue- According to latest reports from the Center of Disease Control (CDC), the rate of occurrence of Autism Spectrum disorders in United States children is much higher than previously thought. Up from about 1 in 150 children in 2000-2002, the past decade has an epic rate of 1 in 88 children and boys who are affected more often than girls in ratio 5:1, have a report rate of 1 in 54. This corresponds to an alarming 78% increase in occurrence rate.
Certain proponents argue that better diagnosis is the result of the greater numbers, however it is highly unlikely that this apparent and demonstrable increase in prevalence of this troubling disorder is simply due to an ‘increased threshold’ of diagnosis and diagnostic criteria.
More serious, amendable issues of public health that have been implicated in the surge in rates can be read in this 2010 Yahoo article by Dr. Casey Adams:
The Real Cause of Autism: Environmental Neurotoxins
The polarized debate between vaccination opponents and proponents is misplaced and out of context. The real problem is much larger: We are poisoning our children in the womb and during infancy with a cocktail of environmental neurotoxins.
What is known is that autism has grown in frequency among children from about 1 in 10,000 to about 1 in 157 children. While some researchers speculate that much of this is accounted for by increased diagnosis, this phenomenal growth in diagnosis is simply too astounding to be explained away so simply.
There is, however, a much simpler and more logical explanation for autism.
Umbilical Cord Poisoning
In 2005, the Environmental Working Group published a combination of two studies that found toxic chemicals in the umbilical cord blood of newborn babies born in the U.S. in the fall of 2004. More than 400 chemicals were screened for, and an astounding 287 toxins were detected within the umbilical cord blood of these newborns. Of these 287 chemicals, 217 are neurotoxins, and 208 are known to damage growth development or cause birth defects.
The toxins included mercury, polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polybrominated and polychlorinated dibenzodioxins and furans (PBCD/F and PBDD/F), perflorinated chemicals (PFCs), organochlorine pesticides like DDT and chlordane, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), polychlorinated napthalenes (PCNs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and many others.
While this study has been peer-reviewed and corroborated by other studies on both mothers and infants, the results have been largely ignored by the media and the polarized vaccination camps.
What is also known is that the blood-brain barrier in an embryo or fetus is practically nil, and this allows a greater exposure to developing brain neurons as compared with an adult exposed to the same chemicals. This was illustrated by the 1950 Minamata, Japan study that showed that mercury contamination was only partial among adult atopsies while embryos and fetuses had almost total cortical damage from the mercury toxicity.
In addition, many of these toxins accumulate within the fat cells of the mother. From there they can be released in mother’s breast milk, further poisoning the child after birth.
Heavy Metals
Many heavy metals, such as mercury, lead, arsenic, cadmium are neurotoxins. Today these are readily applied to many consumer goods, cleaners, furniture and even clothing. Many imported goods have been shown to contain a variety of heavy metals. Many foods, particularly fish, lobsters, clams and other marine creatures now contain mercury. Most of these accumulate in the oceans and waterways by way of burning coal, fossil fuels and other manufacturing waste. Those smoke stacks spewing exhaust into the air are dropping heavy metals onto our oceans. These bioaccumulate up the food chain and are deposited into the flesh of much of the world’s marine life.
A U.S. Geological Survey study sampled 291 streams throughout the U.S. between 2000 and 2003, and found that 100% of the 1000 fish sampled contained the neurotoxin mercury. About 25% of those fish contained levels that were in excess of safe levels established by the EPA. More than half of grocery store tuna is contaminated with levels of mercury over the EPA’s safe limits, according to a University of Nevada study. Many other common eating fish are now known to contain toxic amounts of mercury.
Mercury will accumulate among brain and nervous system cells and begin to eat away at neurons. Pedatric vaccines no longer contain thimerosal (49.6% mercury) as a preservative. A multiple-shot of thimerosal-preserved vaccines potentially exceeded the EPA’s safe exposure levels when they did, however. The amount of mercury now found in our fish pales in comparison.
Cadmium and lead at high enough exposures have similar effects as mercury. They can build up within brain and nervous tissue and lead to nerve and brain damage.
Pesticides
The use of chemical pesticides is so pervasive that practically every conventional food contains a number of pesticides. The Pesticide Action Network of North America and Commonwealth released a report called “”Nowhere to Hide: Persistent Toxic Chemicals in the U.S. Food Supply.” This showed that the average American eating conventional food is exposed to 70 toxic chemicals per day. These were identified as “persistent organic pollutants” and included DDT and dioxin.
We might think that DDT was banned, but this is in the United States. Many other countries apply DDT onto their crops with no restriction.
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Five of the top nine pesticides – naled, propargite, triflualin, cyanide and dicofol – are either Category I or II (Environmental Protection-rated) chemicals, which have the highest neurotoxin classifications.
We’re not just talking about food here. About one-third of a pound of toxic chemicals goes into a typical cotton T-shirt.
Furthermore, it has been estimated that less than a quarter of crop-dusted pesticides actually reach the intended crop. The rest drifts for miles, onto neighborhoods and communities, including our drinking water supplies. In 1995, endosulfan (a common cotton pesticide) leached into an Alabama creek from nearby cotton fields. An estimated 245,000 fish died within sixteen miles of the dumping of this typical cotton pesticide.
And how many parks and neighborhoods are being sprayed with toxic pesticides periodically? Practically every one. Very few municipalities have banned the use of neurotoxic pesticides among their communities.
One prevalent pesticide used today is imidacloprid, a neonicotinoid. Introduced by Bayer in 1994, imidacloprid is a powerful insect neurotoxin used on over 140 different crops. In animals, imidacloprid causes twitching, asphyxia (suffocation), and cramping. While it has a lower immediate toxicity compared with hazards like DDT, imidacloprid’s use is now pervasive. It is rated by the EPA and WHO as “moderately toxic” in small doses.
Pharmaceutical Dumping
Our pharmaceutical society is now dumping massive amounts of toxic medicines into our waterways. Researchers from Finland’s Abo Akademi University released a study in 2007 showing that beta-blockers, antiepileptic drugs, lipid regulators, anti-inflammatory medications and fluoroquinolone drugs were all found in drinking water sources. They found that water treatment facilities only eliminated an average of 13% of these pharmaceuticals, leaving 87% of these drugs – many nervous system modulators – in municipal drinking water for mothers to drink.
Cosmetics and Personal Care Chemicals
Various creams and cosmetics that women apply to their skin contain toxins. They are absorbed into the skin and into our fat cells and bloodstream, and likely on through the umbilical cord and breast milk to children. It has been estimated that women who use conventional cosmetics daily absorb nearly five pounds of chemicals over a year’s period.
In a 2004 study of more than ten thousand personal care products used by 2,300 people, the Environmental Working Group found that the average adult uses nine personal care products containing 126 different chemicals – many toxic. Of the 28 products tested by the study, one-third contained at least one carcinogenic chemical. Almost 70% had ingredients tainted with chemicals linked to hormone imbalances, fatigue, skin irritation, or cancer. Many are also likely neurotoxins to sensitive embryos.
Ethyl paraben, propyl paraben, butyl paraben, and isobutyl paraben are considered carcinogens. Polyvinlpyrrolidone or povidone-iodine interacts with the thyroid gland, the kidneys, and produces systemic toxicity. Some cosmetics contain diazolidinyl urea, which releases the neurotoxin formaldehyde. Propylene glycol is also used in many personal care products. This chemical killed hundreds of people in South America as a toothpaste ingredient. Propylene glycol is a solvent and the primary ingredient in antifreeze and brake fluid. Exposure has been known to cause headaches, nausea, eye irritation, and skin irritation. Diethanoloamine and Triethanolamine or DEA and TEA respectively, are lubricants and surfactants that wet the skin and spread ingredients. Both form carcinogenic nitrosamines when combined with other ingredients. Mice experiments showed they altered fetal brain development.
The list goes on.
These are but a few of the many chemical neurotoxins we use daily. Many ingredients in cleaning chemicals, lubricants, paints, glues and so many other compounds Americans use on a daily basis are toxic, and some of these are also neurotoxins.
This incredible amount of chemical dumping, whether from our medications, cosmetics, manufacturing plants, or foods, enlarges the issue of autism – the result of damage to brain and nerve cells – and dwarfs the polarized argument regarding vaccinations. The tiny vaccination injections a child receives during childhood is but a drop in the ocean compared to the amount of toxic dumping taking place during the nine-month injection of quarts of umbilical cord blood during pregnancy.
It behooves parents, families and pregnant women to cut or curb the use of all toxic chemicals around the house, on the skin and in foods, especially during pregnancy and child infancy. In addition, the energy, funds and outrage that are being focused upon the polarized argument of vaccination and autism ought to be refocused onto curtailing the dumping of toxins into our environment and into our bodies. Otherwise, we are condemning future generations to more than continued increased brain damage: we are talking about the end of the human race as we know it.
