Looking For Autism’s Causes At Home
November 23, 2008 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
MARBLES stands for Markers of Autism Risk in Babies—Learning Early Signs. The study investigates “biological and environmental triggers that children are exposed to prenatally and post-partum”: Some 100 women who have a biological autistic child and who are pregnant, or who are planning on becoming pregnant, are participating in MARBLES, which began in 2006. Researchers from the UC Davis-M.I.N.D. Institute are collecting blood, urine, hair, saliva, and breast milk (if the mother is breast feeding), as well as dust from participants’ houses, and mothers are interviewed and medical records examined. It’s noted that MARBLES is “unique” because
follows mothers before, during, and after their pregnancies, allowing us to obtain information about the pre-natal and post-natal environment to which the baby is exposed.? By gathering information in real-time we increase the accuracy of the information collected and will be able to better understand and observe the biological and behavioral changes that may occur in the mother and/or baby throughout the pregnancy and early childhood period.
The November 22nd InsideBayArea opens by suggesting that people’s homes “might reveal clues for solving one of the biggest mysteries of modern medicine: the cause of a rapid rise in autistic children.” Besides collecting dust with a “special vaccuum,” researchers are also noting what household cleaners soaps, beauty products, electronics, and types of paint, each family uses. And, when Danielle Bell of Danville—whose almost 4-year-old son Jake is autistic—had her now 8-month-old daughter, Layla, researchers were present and “took for laboratory analysis the umbilical cord, a portion of the placenta and what is known as meconium, or the baby’s first bowel movement.”
In the search for a cause, for some of us, it could be said that our homes indeed contain “clues” about autism, in our very selves, in our genes, and not so much is to be revealed by analyzin the dust or the types household cleaning products.
Aside from discovering our housekeeping habits……..
I think that I’d hate to see what they’d find in my house
I’m pretty sure that there are most likely still Cheerios in non-obvious places.
Well, time will tell if there is a potential time-bomb in those dust bunnies, or data for exclusion.
I’d like to thank those families for being willing to volunteer–I can imagine that it might unsettling to undergo such close scrutiny, even in the interest of research.
This story reminds me of that end part in ET where the government agents have the tent and the Klieg lights and the white space suits and the protective face masks.
Hmmm…
Do you think if I told them I was pregnant they’d come over and clean my house?
Joe
LOL at Joe’s comment! But, seriously, don’t you think this is a bit, um, extreme? I mean, sure, I’m all for developing a greater understanding of whether or not there is an environmental element to autism but, c’mon folks!
It’s not like it’s a deadly contagion which musy be found and stopped before it wipes out humanity, for goodness sake! I’ll be keeping my doors locked against the uber-investigators, thankyou very much.
Regan; Fore get the dust bunnies and look at water that drank be fore and after the the were people pregnant. It would be very nice to know how much lead and arsnate and see how much of lead and arsenate made it to the hair of the baby. I dough that you will ever hear about that. Club; I don” think cleaning the house would help that much.
There are any number of chemicals and substances to which we are exposed in our homes. It is we spend much of our lives. I understand that this is a neurodiversity hub web site (autism is just a natural variation) But why shouldn’t the environment in which we live be studied carefully?
But is our environment more toxic today then in the past? It’s just a questioned I’ve often wondered.
I can only speak for my situation and, like Kristina, I think we need to look more at our selves, our genetics, when we’re looking for causes.
I do agree actually that the environment in which we live should be studied —for any number of important reasons. However, I do not believe the *home* environment will yield any clues as to causation of autism —true autism. If that were teh case, don’t you think we would have a dramatic upsurge in the number of adults with autism as well? After all, I spend just as much time in my house as my autistic son and I am not autistic.
My chief complaint isn’t in the investigation per se so much as the apparent zeal with which researchers are looking for a causal link. I’m sorry, I still feel strongly that much of the very limited funding for medical/healthcare research should go toward things which actually should be “cured” such as cancer, prematurity, alzheimer’s and the like.
I would far rather see the autism research money going toward education and other life-span related endeavors.
And, for those who ascribe to the Big Pharma-vaccine conspiracy theories, who’s to say it isn’t just a short skip away to the development of yet another conspiracy theory: a giant coverup by the makers of all those household products? (sarcasm)
“what is known as meconium, or the baby’s first bowel movement.”
As I am in my 30’s, I could only offer them my 9,437th bowel movement. Probably not as helpful. May have to go with the dust.
Niksmom – great post!
@Joe,
I am kind of wondering what kind of super-special vacuum is used—probably puts our dustbuster to shame! (leaves it in the dust….)
@Niksmom,
yeah, I guess Clorox and the makers of Lysol had better be checking with their lawyers!
It’s an obvious fishing expedition. I expect despite how wide they are casting the nets, they’ll find nothing. Actually they’ll probably find a great shoal of chemicals which have a statistically insignificant relationship to autism. But it would be great if they reported p values of less than
.05 I just think they will. However, I’m no prophet. Let the study go on.
This has nothing to do with cure. The chemical could be harmful during post-natal development, but fairly benign — better tolerated, as an adult. The damage caused by the chemical could be irreversible.
But that’s a lot of speculation.
My daughter deserves a cure every bit as much as someone who has alzheimer’s.
We participated in the MIND Institute’s CHARGE study and they have contacted us about this one, however as I am not pregnant it is a moot point.
I don’t necessarily think they will come up with answers, but I don’t think we should close our minds or shut the door on any kind of research that could lead us to a better understanding of autism. Personally, I think genetics are probably the biggest causal factor, but we just don’t know. Although this study is looking at environmental factors, it is starting with the genetic material of family lines that already exhibit autism. Why not continue to look at other factors?
That being said, I am NOT in a hurry to let them come in and see how “not clean” my house is… But if I get pregnant again, I will definitely consider participating in the study. They already have most of our information anyway.
I really hope they find some answers soon, I am so tired of all the bickering and fighting in the autism community. Wouldn’t it be nice to have some of these questions put behind us so we can fully focus on developing education and creating treatments to help our loved ones?
If they found something then we would just start another vaccine controversy. I would rather they look at the medical differences between autistics and the rest of the population.
I believe the ball is mostly in the genetics court, but I have no bone to pick with studying these questions.
Data which excludes or demonstrates no connection, at least in my mind, is as useful as that which does.
If they did find something, controversial or no, would anyone actually say, “Exposure be damned.”? The results might potentially have medical and regulatory implications.
Let ‘em run out the study since it has already commenced–it’s another part of the body of knowledge.
Joe, if you got pregnant, I’ll give you free prenatal care!
As for coming into my house, I’d be scared they’d send me to the lock up unit for a hoarding disorder!
On the one hand, data for exclusion is all well and good.
On the other… just what the world needs, more potential (yet difficult to prove) guilt trip possibilities…
Bleah.
I always have to shake my head at this constant need people have to “blame”, “find fault” and “hold someone accountable” for their own or their child’s situation (although to be honest, I haven’t known many autistic adults who are looking to blame someone for their autism). To be fair, I don’t want to “cure” my kids so I’ve got a different perspective than some parents.
My kids are my kids and they have autism. I can’t control that. I can control my attitude about the situation. And I can choose not to spend my time looking for something or someone to blame and instead take my kids for walks, play with them and enjoy this time I’ve been given because it goes by way too fast.
Hello friends –
I fear that the truth is that it isn’t an environmental factor, so much as an ocean of unknown chemicals our children swim in, never encountered by hundreds of thousands of generations of our ancestors. If exposure to phlates, organophosphates, metals, flame retardants, or a hundred other novel chemicals raise risk of developmental disorders by miniscule amounts, our ability to detect such differences in this study, or nearly any study, will be very slim. Considering many of these chemicals may have difficult to anticipate actions when working in concert, the task is all the more daunting.
I still like the idea of such a study, but personally believe the real answer is along the lines of ‘avoid everything modern’, as opposed to, buy crib sheets that are not flame retardant.
- pD
‘avoid everything modern’
While I appreciate the sentiment for various personal reasons, and golly, what a hypocrite I am to be writing away on the most modern of devices (both a blessing and a curse as most things are), the first thought that leapt to mind, was “Good luck with that”. I think we are kind of stuck, at least for the foreseeable time, with modern.