More news on MIND study linking autism to environment

[Guest guest]

This one mentions vaccines and appears in two California papers so far.

Nationally, the story has appeared in only a handful of places.

Lenny

Autism's cause likely linked to environment, study says

By Sandy Kleffman

Contra Costa Times

http://tiny.pl/vhn9

It is time to focus on environmental causes for the rapid rise in

autism, a leading researcher said Thursday, after her study concluded

that such factors as earlier diagnosis and families moving to

California cannot fully explain a dramatic seven- to eightfold

increase in the state since the early 1990s.

" With no evidence of a leveling off, the possibility of a true

increase in incidence deserves serious consideration, " states the

study, published in the January issue of the journal Epidemiology.

For years, experts have debated whether the autism increase is real.

Skeptics argue that it is a result of better diagnosis, a change in

definitions and the inclusion of children with milder forms of the

disorder.

Irva Hertz-Picciotto and her colleagues at the UC M.I.N.D.

Institute and Department of Public Health Sciences set out to explore

such hypotheses.

They concluded that while those factors explain some of the increase,

they do not account for most of it.

The findings prompted Hertz-Picciotto, a leading autism researcher and

a professor of environmental and occupational health and epidemiology,

to urge policy makers to devote more research money to looking for an

environmental trigger.

" Right now, about 10 to 20 times more research dollars are spent on

studies of the genetic causes of autism than on environmental ones, "

she said. " We need to even out the funding. "

[Guest guest]

This article is definitely making the healthcare and autism related

newsletters I get.

CGF

>

> This one mentions vaccines and appears in two California papers so

far.

> Nationally, the story has appeared in only a handful of places.

>

> Lenny

>

> Autism's cause likely linked to environment, study says

> By Sandy Kleffman

> Contra Costa Times

> http://tiny.pl/vhn9

>

> It is time to focus on environmental causes for the rapid rise in

> autism, a leading researcher said Thursday, after her study

concluded

> that such factors as earlier diagnosis and families moving to

> California cannot fully explain a dramatic seven- to eightfold

> increase in the state since the early 1990s.

> " With no evidence of a leveling off, the possibility of a true

> increase in incidence deserves serious consideration, " states the

> study, published in the January issue of the journal Epidemiology.

> For years, experts have debated whether the autism increase is real.

> Skeptics argue that it is a result of better diagnosis, a change in

> definitions and the inclusion of children with milder forms of the

> disorder.

> Irva Hertz-Picciotto and her colleagues at the UC M.I.N.D.

> Institute and Department of Public Health Sciences set out to

explore

> such hypotheses.

> They concluded that while those factors explain some of the

increase,

> they do not account for most of it.

> The findings prompted Hertz-Picciotto, a leading autism researcher

and

> a professor of environmental and occupational health and

epidemiology,

> to urge policy makers to devote more research money to looking for

an

> environmental trigger.

> " Right now, about 10 to 20 times more research dollars are spent on

> studies of the genetic causes of autism than on environmental ones, "

> she said. " We need to even out the funding. "

>