April is Autism Awareness Month

One of the many things we need to realize is that the chance of a child developing autism is at an all-time high. This begs the question of why autism is becoming more prevalent. Scientists say it is not caused by a virus, fungus, or bacteria, so it isn’t ‘contagious’ and being caught by more children. It also doesn’t occur later in life; at least it is not labelled autism when personalities make these drastic changes later in life. What has changed in our world that more and more kids are developing autism?

Our air is more polluted. There is statistical evidence that women that are exposed to diesel fumes or mercury during a pregnancy are more likely to have an autistic child. There is similar evidence for other pollutants. The higher levels of exposure of the parents, but especially the mother, seem to indicate a higher chance of the child developing problems.

Food toxicity is more common. Though not linked to the advent of autistic symptoms there are numerous studies that show that food allergies, especially gluten contribute to the appearance and the severity of autistic symptoms. Keeping children away from these foods allows them to enjoy a ‘more normal’ life, whatever that means.

One common cause of food allergies is a lack of good bacterial in the gastrointestinal tract. This can occur due to exposure to antibiotics, either intentionally to fight an illness or unintentionally through tainted foods. This can be combatted with good probiotics, or even fecal transplants.

Similar damage can be done through the gastrointestinal tract through vaccinations. Maybe this is one reason that there keeps being a link between vaccines and autism. It may not just be the mercury and other preservatives that are doing the damage. There has been a court ruling that the MMR vaccine was the direct cause of one case of autism. The same reaction that is blamed for the child’s autism has been documented as occurring with the DTaP, HiB and Prevnar vaccines.

One reason for the strong link between vaccines and autism is that they commonly contain heavy metals. There are other ways our children are exposed to heavy metals, before and after they are born. Heavy metals are prevalent in our food and water supplies. They tend to accumulate in the body, but that accumulation is being passed from mother to child. More and more children are showing measurable levels of heavy metals in the bloodstream at birth.

Though they haven’t figured out the exact way it damages the child there are very strong statistical links between induced labor and/or epidurals in the development of autism.

The fear of fire seems to be contributing to the increase in autism. Fire retardants in infant clothing and bedding are being linked with autism. They, along with other hormone disrupting chemicals are being found in pregnant women and their growing babies. These chemicals seem to do more harm to developing boys than to girls. This tracks with the statistics that boys are four times more likely to develop autism than their sisters.

Knowing this information after your child has been diagnosed can bring on a guilt trip. Knowing it before the baby is conceived may give your child a chance for a normal life. The best time to start avoiding these chemicals and heavy metals is today. That way your children will have less of a chance of being the parent of an autistic child.