Scientists unite on how to protect children from toxic contributors to autism

The following is a guest blog from Project TENDR.

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Autism is a complex neurological disorder with multiple causes; vaccines are not one of them. There is ample evidence that many toxic chemicals, including air pollution, pesticides, and plastics chemicals, are dangerous to children’s brains.

If the current administration wants to address neurological disorders including autism, reducing exposure to air pollutants, pesticides, and plastics would be a good place to start.

Below are details on the dangers to children’s brains from these toxic chemicals, how the current Administration is increasing these dangers, and what they should do instead.

Air Pollution

Pregnant women who breathe polluted air are more likely to have children who develop autism. Babies who breathe polluted air are more likely to develop autism.

SOLUTIONS: The current Administration and Congress could reduce children’s risks for autism right now by strengthening fuel efficiency standards and air pollution standards, upholding climate change regulations, and restoring funding for wind and solar energies that reduce air pollution from burning fossil fuels.

Pesticides

Pregnant women exposed to certain pesticides have children at greater risk of autism. These pesticides are widely used, including on fruits and vegetables, with little regulation.

SOLUTIONS: The US should start by halting use of the 72 pesticides banned or being phased out in the European Union, most of them for being harmful to people’s brains and/or linked to neurodevelopmental disorders.

Plastics and chemicals in plastics such as phthalates

Phthalates can contribute to attention disorders and may be linked to autism. Phthalates migrate out of plastic food packaging and processing equipment into food and drink. Phthalates are also in building materials, flooring, air fresheners, cosmetics, personal care products, and medical tubing. Eating and drinking food contaminated with phthalates is the main way people are exposed. Babies and toddlers have the highest levels of phthalates in their bodies.

SOLUTIONS: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should reduce the use of plastics in contact with food or drink. FDA should ban phthalates in plastic food packaging and processing equipment, and from all products they regulate. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should ban phthalates in building materials, flooring, and other products.

The Toxic Substances Control Act

The U.S. government allows companies to manufacture and distribute tens of thousands of chemicals that aren’t independently tested to make sure they’re safe for babies and children. Now, the Administration and Congress propose to undermine the Toxic Substances Control Act, a law that gives EPA the authority to require testing of chemicals and to phase out chemicals that are a threat to children’s health and brain development.

SOLUTIONS: The government needs to do a better job of protecting people from harmful chemicals. The Toxic Substances Control Act should be maintained and properly implemented, and FDA and EPA should require clear labeling of potentially toxic chemicals in products so women can make safer choices for themselves, their pregnancies, and their children.

We have the opportunity to reduce cases of autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, learning disabilities, and other neurodevelopmental conditions by banning the use of chemicals that can harm children’s brains, reducing air pollution, and keeping plastics away from food and drink.

The current Administration’s path of dismantling environmental regulations that protect health, firing scientists, and defunding research means more children will develop autism and other brain disorders and puts our children and future generations in harm’s way.

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Project TENDR autism researchers:

Deborah Bennett, PhD, University of California, Davis
Brenda Eskenazi, PhD, University of California, Berkeley
Alycia Halladay, PhD, Autism Science Foundation
Irva Hertz-Picciotto, PhD, University of California, Davis
Deborah Hirtz, MD, University of Vermont Medical School
Beate Ritz, MD, PhD, University of California Los Angeles
Heather Volk, PhD, Johns Hopkins University

Project TENDR is an alliance of more than 50 leading scientists, health professionals, and environmental health advocates working to protect children from toxic chemicals and pollutants that harm brain development, and to end the disproportionate exposures and impacts experienced by children of color and children in families with low incomes.