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ENVIRONMENT DRIVING UP AUTISM CASES? · Your Daily Dose

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  Speaker 1: Hey everybody, welcome. Welcome to September. Today we're going to
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  Speaker 1: talk a little on autism, which we've done many, many
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  Speaker 1: times in the past. But today a new article comes
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  Speaker 1: out that says something in the environment could be driving
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  Speaker 1: up autism. We finally get the admittance by medicine that
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  Speaker 1: autism could be related to things we're exposed to, not
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  Speaker 1: just necessarily our genes. So we're going to go into that.
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  Speaker 1: Stay tuned. Hi, and welcome to Health Talk with Dr. Len,
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  Speaker 1: the good news of the day. God bless you folks,
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  Speaker 1: and here is Dr. Len. Our daily devotional today comes
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  Speaker 1: from the book of Deuteronomy chapter four. Seek me with
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  Speaker 1: over you all of the time. Stay tuned. 727-916-4215 to
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  Speaker 1: get a hold of me. Off air. Autism is often
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  Speaker 1: considered to have a strong genetic basis. However, since the
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  Speaker 1: 70s Cases have risen in a way that cannot be
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  Speaker 1: explained by genetics. I could stop right there. Genetics is stable.
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  Speaker 1: It's very infrequent. It does change, said Michael Skinner, a
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  Speaker 1: distinguished professor and founding director for the Center for Reproductive
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  Speaker 1: Biology at Washington State University. To explain the rise, experts
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  Speaker 1: often point to two things happening in tandem. Broadening diagnostic criteria. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: we've heard that drumbeat. in the environment. Since the 50s,
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  Speaker 1: worldwide chemical production has expanded 50-fold, with 350,000 different types
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  Speaker 1: of manufactured chemicals, chemical mixtures, and plastics. The number of
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  Speaker 1: chemicals that we're using continue to increase, says Diana Bennett,
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  Speaker 1: assistant professor at the University of Cal Davis. The search
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  Speaker 1: for the environmental factors linked to autism could feel like
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  Speaker 1: a game of whack-a-mole. Air pollution has been shown to
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  Speaker 1: increase autism development. However, from the 70s to the 20s,
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  Speaker 1: overall air pollution has decreased by more than 75%, contrary
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  Speaker 1: to the increasing trend in autism. While major components of
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  Speaker 1: air pollution, such as carbon monoxide and particulate matter, have decreased,
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  Speaker 1: certain chemical components may not be decreasing. Another widely studied
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  Speaker 1: class of chemicals is organophosphate ester pesticides, commonly used in agriculture.
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  Speaker 1: These organic chemicals, notice I underline the word organic, are
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  Speaker 1: made by reacting phosphoric acid with alcohol. The EPA has
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  Speaker 1: been regulating some of these pesticides. Beginning in the late 90s,
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  Speaker 1: the EPA began regulating the use of chlorpiphorose, limiting it
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  Speaker 1: initially from both indoor and outdoor residential use to outdoor
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  Speaker 1: use only, and finding agriculture use only. It's currently still
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  Speaker 1: allowed on crops such as apples, citrus, soybeans, cottons, and wheat.
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  Speaker 1: Other organophosphates linked to autism are commonly used in flame
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  Speaker 1: retardants and plasticizers. These chemicals are present in flame-resistant building materials, bedding, furniture,
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  Speaker 1: and clothes made with plastic. Plasticizers such as phthalates used
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  Speaker 1: in food packaging and scented products have also been linked
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  Speaker 1: to autism. While that evidence isn't as strong, the EPA
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  Speaker 1: announced plans in 2025 to regulate and reduce phthalate exposure.
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  Speaker 1: As one chemical is regulated... Another new chemical continues to emerge.
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  Speaker 1: Children's health has progressively worsened by the decade, with more
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  Speaker 1: than 40% of children in the United States suffering from
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  Speaker 1: neurodevelopmental or other chronic conditions. 40%! In 2025, 25 scientists
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  Speaker 1: from the top institutions across the United States and Europe
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  Speaker 1: jointly published a paper linking chronic diseases in children, like autism,
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  Speaker 1: to the rise of synthetic chemicals. Published in the New
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  Speaker 1: England Journal of Medicine, noted that synthetic chemicals Hmm. Hmm.
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  Speaker 1: Toddlers had high levels of several pesticides and phthalate-related biomarkers
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  Speaker 1: than their mother had. Later-borns also tended to have higher
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  Speaker 1: concentrations of several chemicals than the first-borns. However, the authors
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  Speaker 1: cautioned that this could be due to confounding or chance.
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  Speaker 1: When we are exposed to environmental changes, they may be toxins, stress,
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  Speaker 1: or even nutrition, they leave marks on our genome. These
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  Speaker 1: marks are called epigenetic changes and can directly affect the
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  Speaker 1: behavior of our genes. The rise in environmental chemicals may
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  Speaker 1: be driving autism cases through epigenetics. You have certain genes
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  Speaker 1: that need to be activated when you're younger and then
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  Speaker 1: again as you get older. These are specific genes that
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  Speaker 1: need to be turned on and off. If genes are
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  Speaker 1: not activated at the right time, development can become abnormal.
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  Speaker 1: The environmental causes and gene expression which later manifest as
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  Speaker 1: a series of alterations in behavior that accounts for autism
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  Speaker 1: spectrum disorders that Dennis Grayson, professor of molecular sciences, University
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  Speaker 1: of Illinois, Chicago. When it comes to autism and the environment,
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  Speaker 1: most debated subjects is vaccine. Despite safety reviews from the
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  Speaker 1: Institute of Medicine and large studies both in the United
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  Speaker 1: States and abroad not linking vaccines to autism, some doctors
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  Speaker 1: and parents have asked for further investigations. Early concerns about
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  Speaker 1: vaccine and autism come from Dr. Andrew Wakefield's research on
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  Speaker 1: the measles vaccine, which raised the public's concern about thiamarisol,
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  Speaker 1: a mercury preservative, then common in vaccines. While Wakefield's study
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  Speaker 1: was later retracted and thiamarisol was mostly phased out, new
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  Speaker 1: concerns about vaccine safety have surfaced regarding aluminum adjuvants. Studies
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  Speaker 1: have shown that aluminum adjuvants often added to vaccines to
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  Speaker 1: incite an immune response can cause inflammation, and because children
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  Speaker 1: with autism often have brain inflammation, aluminum could be a
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  Speaker 1: potential mechanism of autism. A 2025 Danish study compared children
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  Speaker 1: who received low doses of vaccine containing aluminum to those
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  Speaker 1: who received high doses. Found no link between aluminum adjuncts
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  Speaker 1: and the development of autism. So what is it? I
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  Speaker 1: think the possibility of the vaccines is still there. Even
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  Speaker 1: though they say this is unclear, what we're trying to
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  Speaker 1: do by dampering down all of the different vaccines is
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  Speaker 1: I believe it's going to make a difference in the
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  Speaker 1: long term. So yeah, do we need to make sure
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  Speaker 1: that our bodies are kept clean and functioning at all cylinders?
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  Speaker 1: If you're going to do one thing, add the pro-lean
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  Speaker 1: greens every day. Every day, all the time. Boost your
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  Speaker 1: glutathione levels and make sure that that is going into
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  Speaker 1: everybody from your children on up. Let's keep the junk
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  Speaker 1: out of our systems. That's what we've got for you today, folks.
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  Speaker 1: God bless and I'll see you back here soon. Take care.