Making Sense of The Autism Epidemic

Hello Everyone!

I want to touch on a complex topic that concerns more and more members of our society, namely the dramatic increase in disorders such as autism and Asperger's syndrome. As many of you know both of them are disorders for which the most prominent features are a lack of social intelligence. In the case of autism it is often accompanied by an inability to talk or perform basic daily living tasks. Individuals with Aspergers are often normal or even highly talented in topics such as language, music, mathematics, art, science, computer programming or other areas, but they may still have a hard time making their way in the world.

And there has been a lot of controversy over whether or not autism rates are increasing and why. The UN currently defines the rise as a "global emergency". Currently the rate of autism and related disorders in the United States stands at 1 in 150 children born.

But a recent study on the autism increase in California, debunks several folk theories about autism and the view that the disorder is entirely due to genetics.

One set of critics have suggested that maybe autism isn't on the rise, but we are simply more aware of it. In the past, these critics have suggested autistic children might have just been kept on a farm, or killed as possessed by the Devil. As late as the 1950's to 1970's, or even the 1980's in some places, they might have been labeled as retarded or mentally ill and put away in an institution without any further investigations. Additionally they point out that the diagnostic criteria has become somewhat broader since the 1960's. However, the California study shows that this is not the case, because only a small portion of the increase in reported cases of autism are due to improved diagnosis, increased awareness, increased reporting, or broadened diagnostic criteria. Also age of diagnosis was not a factor because they looked specifically at the number of children diagnosed at specific ages.

Another theory that attributes autism to genetics, but acknowledges the rise attributes it to assortative mating. Originally set forth by experimental psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen (As a matter of fact he is related to Sasha Baron-Cohen: aka Borat, Ali G, Bruno et al.), this has been dubbed the "revenge of the nerds theory. Basically assortative mating is a term in biology that means by individuals mating with individuals either like or different from themselves as means of increasing or decreasing certain traits. Often it is credited with the differentiation of certain species. But in the assortative mating theory of autism, people who have certain autistic like traits to a lesser degree are the people wildly labeled as "nerds" or "geeks". Or basically the kids who are more interested in quantum physics, calculus, computer programming, and Latin grammar than prom dates, school dances, football, cheerleading, and pep rallies. According to this theory in the past nerds, especially female nerds, had limited mating prospects. But now social scenes such as the computer industry, the tech industries, and increasingly biotech is giving the nerds an opportunity not only to marry and have families, but to do so with each other. And this is the cause of the rise of autism.
Of course, Simon Baron-Cohen was an important figure with the regards to understanding people with autism, and he has created some interesting learning programs to help autistic people. But the California study does not support the assortative mating theory. Because it showed that autism was not associated with migration into California either from other locations. And if autism was really associated with the "nerd marriages" in silicon valley and other tech locations, one would expect in migration to be a large factor in the increase. (Of course, you could accuse me of bias, because I've sometimes been considered something of a nerd.) Because you'd expect most of the nerds in Silicon Valley to reflect more people who migrated from other parts of the US, rather than long time Californians.
Another theory, that has been struck a blow by the lack of association with migration or longer term residence in California, is blaming rising maternal or paternal ages for autism. Because if that was the case you'd expect a negative association, because so many migrants coming into California are immigrants from Mexico and Latin America who tend to start families at younger ages than native born citizens.

Yet another highly popular theory for the rise in autism-albiet one few scientists took seriously-has also been thoroughly exonerated by the study. The California study has shown that there is no association between any vaccination or the vaccine perservative thimersol, and autism.

So what is causing the rise in autism? The answer to that is "We don't really know?"

Is it some pollutant in the environment? The answer to that is "Possibly." There are many environmental scientists and autism researchers who advocate more research regarding a number of environemntal pollutants including particularly organo-mercury.
And some of you may be asking "Well wait a minute!! How come mercury pollution is a suspect, but not thimersol a mercury based perservative?"

The answer to that lies with the complex toxicology of mercury. As it turns out the mercury in thimersol is generally doesn't stay in the body for long time and doesn't increase blood and tissue levels of mercury on a long term basis. However whenever mercury is released into an ocean ecosystem a complex chain of events take places. Usually once the mercury desposits in marine sediments the bacteria convert it into methylmercury (which has a very different toxicological profile than thimersol). And that methylmercury accumulates in the food chain, so that humans are typically exposed by eating fish or seafood. When humans are exposed to methylmercury in that manner it can accumulate in the body, pass the blood brain and blood placental barrier, and appear in a womans' breast milk.

Of course, we are a long way from knowing which if any pollutants are implicated in autism with any certainty. It could be a combination of pollutants, or even a combination of both pollutants and other environmental factors. And it is almost certainly the case that genetics have a lot to do with why some individuals are susceptible to various environmental factors while others are not. All important things to be mindful of, before blaming that cousin, friend, coworker, or daughter in-law with an autistic child for eating too many tuna sandwiches while breastfeeding, getting a new carpet while pregnant, living in Detroit, parenting choices you may not agree with, or other things.

Other theories and studies have focused on indoor air pollutants, lack of vitamin D, differences in gut flora between autistic and non-autistic people, white noise, and more.

Inevitably people will ask "What should parents do to prevent autism in their children?" And sadly, there just isn't enough knowledge to create any clear guidelines yet. Nor are there are any clear guidelines for individuals who have autism. Although it is not inconceivable that this may change in the not-too-distant future. Even now there are some autistic adults who have done much better than experts would have ever believed possible when they were children such as livestock scientist and author Temple Grandin, and autor John Elder Robison, the brother of author Augusten Burroughs who was diagnosed at 40.
And it is possible with medicine, technology, and new understanding of the brain that things may get substantially better in the future.

But first we have to understand these disorders in much greater depth.

That's all for today. And:

Say Goodnight Readers!