[PEN-L:31553] RE: Re: Autism on the rise

["Devine, James" <jdevine@xxxxxxx>]

Title: RE: [PEN-L:31503] Re: Autism on the rise

For what it's worth, our son was conceived the old-fashioned way, with a "Tom Cat catheter" and no other artificial means. However, statistically speaking, it's quite possible that the issues of pregnancy late in the life span and of artificial means of fertilization may be behind the surge in the prevalence of autism. Of course, such phenomena can have, and usually do have, more than one cause: we shouldn't let the role of environmental toxins off the hook, while there is evidence for the existence of genetic predisposition, at least for the higher-functioning versions of autism.

------------------------
Jim Devine jdevine@xxxxxxx &  http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Charles Jannuzi [mailto:b_rieux@xxxxxxxxx]
> Sent: Tuesday, October 22, 2002 4:46 AM
> To: pen-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [PEN-L:31503] Re: Autism on the rise
>
>
> Artificial means of fertilization could well be a
> factor in the increase of problems such as autism
> and learning disabilities.
>
> CJ
>
> Read on:
>
> http://report.ca/archive/report/20020415/p47i020415f.html
>
> Both studies were published in the March 7 issue
> of the New England Journal of Medicine. The
> first, conducted by Western Australian doctors,
> found that one in 10 test-tube babies is born
> with major birth defects, such as cleft palate,
> heart defects, misformed genitals, undescended
> testicles, Down's syndrome, dislocated hip or
> club foot. The study compared 301 infants
> conceived through ICSI and 837 infants conceived
> in vitro with 4,000 conceived naturally. All data
> was collected from Australia's mandatory birth
> defect reporting registry. At the end of one
> year, researchers found that about 9% of the
> infants conceived using reproductive technology
> had major birth defects, with some suffering
> multiple defects. The rate among
> naturally-produced children was 6%.
>
etc.