New Study Ties Vehicle Exhaust to Autism

EBN Dec. 2011); new research suggests a correlation between traffic pollution and autism.

A California study published in

Archives of General Psychiatry looked at 524 children, 279 of them with autism; using meteorological and traffic data from roads within approximately three miles of each home, researchers modeled traffic-related exposure to nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter during gestation and the first year of life. Children with the highest exposure, particularly during late gestation and early life, were three times as likely to have autism as those with the lowest exposure. The researchers observe that autism is likely caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors.