New Jersey has one of the highest rates of mercury in the air in the US. Two scientific studies have linked autism to the amount of mercury in the air. Several other studies have linked autism to mercury from other sources (vaccines, dental fillings, seafood, prenatal exposure). The following two studies relate to mercury in the air:
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Environ Health Perspect. 2006 Sep;114(9):1438-44.
Autism spectrum disorders in relation to distribution of hazardous air pollutants in the san francisco bay area.
Windham GC, Zhang L, Gunier R, Croen LA, Grether JK.
Division of Environmental and Occupational Disease Control, California Department of Health Services, Richmond, California, USA.
[email protected]OBJECTIVE: To explore possible associations between autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and environmental exposures, we linked the California autism surveillance system to estimated hazardous air pollutant (HAP) concentrations compiled by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. METHODS: Subjects included 284 children with ASD and 657 controls, born in 1994 in the San Francisco Bay area. We assigned exposure level by census tract of birth residence for 19 chemicals we identified as potential neurotoxicants, developmental toxicants, and/or endocrine disruptors from the 1996 HAPs database. Because concentrations of many of these were highly correlated, we combined the chemicals into mechanistic and structural groups, calculating summary index scores. We calculated ASD risk in the upper quartiles of these group scores or individual chemical concentrations compared with below the median, adjusting for demographic factors.
RESULTS: The adjusted odds ratios (AORs) were elevated by 50% in the top quartile of chlorinated solvents and heavy metals [95% confidence intervals (CIs) , 1.1-2.1], but not for aromatic solvents. Adjusting for these three groups simultaneously led to decreased risks for the solvents and increased risk for metals (AORs for metals: fourth quartile = 1.7 ; 95% CI, 1.0-3.0 ; third quartile = 1.95 ; 95% CI, 1.2-3.1) .
The individual compounds that contributed most to these associations included mercury, cadmium, nickel, trichloroethylene, and vinyl chloride.
CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest a potential association between autism and estimated metal concentrations, and possibly solvents, in ambient air around the birth residence, requiring confirmation and more refined exposure assessment in future studies.
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Health Place. 2006 Jun;12(2):203-9.
Environmental mercury release, special education rates, and autism disorder: an ecological study of Texas.
Palmer RF, Blanchard S, Stein Z, Mandell D, Miller C.
University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio Department of Family and Community Medicine, 7703 Floyd Curl Drive, San Antonio, Texas 78229-3900, USA.
[email protected]The association between environmentally released mercury, special education and autism rates in Texas was investigated using data from the Texas Education Department and the United States Environmental Protection Agency. A Poisson regression analysis adjusted for school district population size, economic and demographic factors was used.
There was a significant increase in the rates of special education students and autism rates associated with increases in environmentally released mercury. On average, for each 1,000 lb of environmentally released mercury, there was a 43% increase in the rate of special education services and a 61% increase in the rate of autism. The association between environmentally released mercury and special education rates were fully mediated by increased autism rates. This ecological study suggests the need for further research regarding the association between environmentally released mercury and developmental disorders such as autism. These results have implications for policy planning and cost analysis.
PMID: 16338635 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
26 Dec 2007, 2:40 pm
