Although the causes of autism and sensory issues are not known, one area that is consistently getting researched is insecticides. Many insecticides are neurotoxic. While a fatal dose for a bug is way smaller than the fatal dose for a human, they don’t always have the studies for what happens when humans get tiny doses over and over and over or when they get exposed prenatally.
Here is the new study
http://epa.gov/ncer/events/news/2012/05_03_12_feature.html
Note that Dursban or Chrlorpyrifos is a very popular insecticide on soybeans which is yet another reason to avoid non-organic soy. It gets heavy use in agriculture and on golf courses.
One of the cluster oddities in autism is how high the rates are in Minnesota. The Minneapolis / St.Paul area has a large number of immigrants from places like Somalia. These immigrants had zero family history of autism in Somalia but then in Minnesota they suddenly started getting autism at a scary rate,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUf4L6UQhbk&feature=related
Now think of the three states where you would most want bug repellent. Then look at the graphic.
http://graphics.latimes.com/usmap-autism-rates-state/
As Buddy on Dinosaur Train likes to say…I have a hypothesis.
The greater Minneapolis area gets its water from the Mississippi river. According to a 1995 study by the USGS 2/3 of all pesticides used for agriculture in the US are in the Mississippi river basin. What do you think happens if you drink it every day?
http://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/circ1133/pesticides.html
In addition, the now banned neurotoxic insecticides were sprayed in schools without notifying the parents or teachers.
http://www.epa.gov/ace/features/s4-graph.html
And finally Minnesota, the land of 10,000 lakes and 10,000,000,000,000 mosquitos sprays “safe” pyrethrins in the name of mosquito control. Pyrethrins are natural. They come from flowers. They persist in the environment and they end up in the water.
http://www.mmcd.org/control_mat.html
Of course, hemlock is all natural too. So is arsenic. Arsenic comes from peaches. Doesn’t that sound lovely. Peaches are so good for you. Of course there is a reason we don’t eat the pits. Like them being full of arsenic.
And since my sarcastic comments are hardly evidence supporting my hypothesis, I present the following. While these are rat studies, I can assure you that if my son gets lice, we are doing the Crisco head method of removal.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20019907
More evidence that the damage is cumulative
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21665567
And why that study is a good one
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11812616
FYI, water treatment methods do not remove insecticides from the system, so if you want this stuff out of your water you are going to need at least a little sink carbon filter if not a reverse osmosis system. That recommendation is per the EPA at the next link.
http://www.epa.gov/oppfead1/trac/science/water_treatment.pdf
And the pileup of evidence linking pesticides and herbicides to Parkinson’s is kind of overwhelming. This post is too long already, but if you are interested, Google it yourself, just don’t do it at bedtime.
I am actually not all that reactionary. Aside from flu shots (which I think are painful and pointless) my son has had all recommended vaccines and he will continue to do so. I don’t like aspartame, but I don’t think it is all that harmful to people who are not sensitive to it. I don’t tell everyone to avoid gluten. I drink coffee and alcohol and I eat meat.
But the evidence around pesticides is getting kind of loud. So we will be sticking with our iffy lawn and organic food for now.
I have a hypothesis and I am not the only one. And we as a civilization need to test it.
And if the cost of going organic freaks you out you have obviously never had to pay out of pocket for OT.
