Autism - Somali connection (Canadian article)

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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ ... eandHealth

That is quite interesting! How strange. They also don't indicate who the fathers are, if they are Somali - ?

Merle

I know that cousin marriage is common in some Muslim groups, but don't know if this is the case with Somalis. But since the Somalis are likely marrying other Somali immigrants this could cause an inbreeding situation. Either case would point to a genetic component causing the high rates of autism.

After the collapse of central government in Somalia, massive amounts of toxic waste, including nuclear waste, were dumped off the coast of Somalia by a lot of those countries who are now filled with moral outrage about Somali pirates.

The correlation in time is suggestive. Gene frequencies among humans don't change that rapidly.

Perhaps, but alternatively it may be the case that the diet and environment in Somalia was such that it did not contain the triggers for the severe conditions. This would lead to the genes not being selected against and therefore to be more prevalent in the population all along. Now that they are in an environment that does contain these triggers the situation is changing and the impact is being seen.

More indicative would be if we found a sudden increase in autism within Somalia rather than among the immigrants.

I doubt there's much evidence about the rates of autism in Somalia itself - these are anecdotal claims that the incidence is higher among Somalis in the West than in Somalia, but no verification (you could easily 'prove' witchcraft is real with anecdotal evidence). Without any real knowledge of rates of incidence among Somalis in the West vs. in Somalia, we have no way of assessing whether the differences are genetic and the difference between apparent/anecdotal incidence in the West and in Somalia is just due to the lack of a functioning health care system in Somalia, or whether there are significant differences in environmental triggers.