Preliminary results in a
study produced by the University of Pittsburgh suggests air pollution may have
adverse effects on children’s health, that could lead to autism spectrum
disorders.
The Pitt Graduate School of
Public Health team interviewed 217 families of children with ASD and compared
the findings with information from two separate sets of comparison families of
children without ASD born during the same time period in the six-county area.
They found that children with
autism spectrum disorders were more likely to have been exposed to higher
levels of certain air toxics during their mothers’ pregnancies and their first
two years of life compared with children without the condition.
“There were three small
studies that came out since 2006 linking ASD, autism spectrum disorders, with
air pollution,” said Evelyn Talbott, a Pitt Graduate School of Public Health
professor of epidemiology who led the study. “I scratched my head and said,
‘Nobody’s ever looked at this, and when you don’t look at it, you don’t find
anything.’ It is worth looking at it because we know so very little about what
causes autism spectrum disorders.”
The Environmental Protection
Agency has long warned that air toxics are known or suspected to cause serious
health issues including reproductive or birth defects.
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