California – the Autism State. Why?
California is seeing a staggering increase in autism. In 1981, only one person in ten thousand was affected by this condition, but by 2007 it was one in every 150 – a massive jump. Two years later, it had risen to one in a hundred and now, in 2014, it stands at one in every 68. If the rise continues at its present rate, within the next decade, at least half the citizens of California will have autism. The criteria that provide the statistics have not changed since research began, so no shift of focus can be argued.
Why is California so drastically affected? In the same period, autism rates have not risen in Europe, or in less intensively agricultural American states. Irva Hertz-Picciotto, an epidemiology professor at University of California, points to clear evidence that ‘environmental culprits’ are responsible for the increase. She is backed by other leading scientists, who warned last month that ‘children world-wide are being exposed to unrecognised toxic chemicals that are silently eroding intelligence, disrupting behaviours, truncating future achievements and damaging societies.’
These ‘brain toxins’ are the chemicals found in solvents, flame retardants and pesticides. The massive increase in Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) is tightly linked to the expanded use of pesticides and herbicides, made necessary to protect GMOs against any natural resistance. In more than 60 countries around the world, including Australia, Japan and all the countries in the European Union, there are significant restrictions or outright bans on the production and sale of GMOs. America, however, is so in thrall to the big chemical companies such as Monsanto that it no longer regulates the use of these chemicals. Glyphosate, originally patented and sold by Monsanto as Roundup is a potent endocrine disruptor. That means it can interfere with the production and functioning of the body’s natural hormones. Babies and unborn children still in the womb are particularly at risk, as any disruption of endocrine systems can affect their brain development.
Monsanto has always sworn that Roundup doesn’t accumulate in the human body – but they were lying. Last week, a study was done that examined the breast milk of ten American women and found alarmingly high levels of glyphosate in three of them. The study also examined urine from 35 people across the country and found glyphosate at levels ten times higher than a similar survey done in a European population. Though the sample figure is small, the percentages revealed are alarming.
The New England Journal of Medicine has published the findings of brain autopsies done on autistic children who had died from unrelated causes. Autistic brains showed abnormal patches of disorganised neurons, disrupting the distinct layers in the brain’s cortex. Because of the early age of the dead children, the abnormalities had to have occurred in utero during the key developmental period between 19 to 30 weeks’ gestation. The immature brain of an embryo is at risk of significant and permanent damage from exposure to such chemicals as pesticides, at levels that may have no detectable impact on adults.
Monsanto produced the infamous Agent Orange used in the Vietnam war, and many of the pesticides it has since developed are derived from chemical warfare agents such as nerve gases. They work by causing chemical disruption of the brain and nervous system of insects. At the first stage of pre-natal development, a human baby’s brain is no larger than that of many insects. Research has already confirmed that mothers more exposed to commonly used, ‘safe’ pesticides bear children with lower intelligence, structural brain abnormalities, behavioural disorders and compromised motor skills. They tend to have a smaller head size and develop higher rates of brain cancer.
In December 2013, the European Food Safety Authority said the neonicotinamides linked to declines in bee populations might adversely affect the development of brain structures in unborn babies. Two months before that, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists had joined with the American Society for Reproductive Medicine in issuing a joint statement. ‘Exposure to toxic environmental agents,’ it said, ‘can have a profound and lasting effect on reproductive health across the life course.’
The Standing Committee of European Doctors – which includes the British Medical Association – recently stated, ‘Chemical pollution represents a serious threat to children, and to Man’s survival.’ Tests had found that 99 percent of pregnant women tested positive for at least 43 different chemicals.
With rapidly rising rates of autism and behavioural disorders in the US, you would think public health officials and politicians would be desperate to find out exactly what is happening and how to stop it. But industries such as Monsanto America are so powerful that no government dares to question their results. So the US blunders on, helpless to prevent damage to their unborn children and the resulting steady decline in America’s collective intellectual prowess. While seeking to dominate the world, it is a nation heading for catastrophe.
