Autism linked with rainfall in study

[The Straight Story]

Autism linked with rainfall in study

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Children who live in the U.S. Northwest's wettest counties are more likely to have autism, but it is unclear why, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday.

Michael Waldman of Cornell University and colleagues were searching for an environmental link with autism, a condition characterized by learning and social disabilities.

They got autism rates from state and county agencies for children born in California, Oregon and Washington between 1987 and 1999 and plotted them against daily precipitation reports.

"Autism prevalence rates for school-aged children in California, Oregon and Washington in 2005 were positively related to the amount of precipitation these counties received from 1987 through 2001," they wrote in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

....

Perhaps infants and toddlers are kept are kept indoors in front of the TV more in rainy climates, and that somehow causes brain changes, they said. Or perhaps they breathe in more harmful chemicals while indoors.

Vitamin D deficiency caused by insufficient time in the sun might also be a trigger, they said.

http://www.canada.com/Health/Autism+linked+with+rainfall+study/1176842/story.html

[xchrom]

1. recommend

[jsamuel]

2. pirates and global warming

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[HysteryDiagnosis]

3. Hg in rainfall

http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/article/5088


Mercury in California Rainwater Traced to Industrial Emissions in Asia
Email this article
2003-01-06


Industrial emissions in Asia are a major source of mercury in rainwater that falls along the California coast, according to a new study by UCSC researchers.

The researchers reported their findings in a paper published online today by the Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres. (The paper will appear in print in a later issue of the journal.)

The mercury in rainwater is not in itself a health threat, but mercury pollution is a significant problem in San Francisco Bay and other California waters because the toxic element builds up in the food chain. State regulatory agencies are looking for ways to reduce the amount of mercury entering the state's waters from various sources.

The new study provides valuable information to guide those efforts, said Russell Flegal, professor and chair of environmental toxicology at UCSC and coauthor of the new paper.

[Sequoia]

9. I moved up to N. cal for THIS !!!!!

It's raining right now. Better put out the mercury pots.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

10. No, you moved to California for this:

[customerserviceguy]

4. Or just maybe

correlation does not prove causation.

[msongs]

5. 100% correlation between people w/autism and breathing - cause n effect not established tho nt

[KamaAina]

14. Pshaw! I can hold my breath for well over 30 seconds!

I once demonstrated this skill to win my team some points in one of those stupid "icebreakers" they have before meetings. :eyes:

[Mike 03]

6. Vitamin D was the first thing I thought of too. I mentioned this in a post on another

thread and it was basically ridiculed. But Vitamin D deficiency is beginning to be implicated in a whole host of illnesses, from multiple sclerosis to particular types of cancers.

And these studies are not done by lunatics but well respected universities.

And also, Vitamin D supplementation is inexpensive. Although the best way is probably to get direct exposure from the sun.

[Cetacea]

13. As soon as I saw "rainfall".

Did you know that one of the best sources of D is in Epsom Salts.

[Warpy]

7. Cord abnormalities associated with autism are present at birth

so instead of looking at the environment the kiddies are in, they need to start looking at maternal environment.

There are also genes associated with autism, which could very easily mean environment has little to do with it and any clusters of cases in rainy areas just mean the area was settled by people with the abnormalities.

[4lbs]

8. Maybe the increased rain causes a higher incidence of hidden mold spores and mildew?

I dunno.

[SoCalDem]

11. or perhaps the chemical-laden bodies of the mothers may be passing on

substances to their in-utero young, who will be born with inate "sensitivities" to worldly chem-combinations, that lurk, like timebombs, waiting to form the exact combination/saturation to make them ill.

[madrchsod]

12. mercury laced vaccine rainfall?