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Monday, January 4, 2010

Opposing Views: NEWS: Higher Rates of Autism Found in Clusters Around Los Angeles


Opposing Views: NEWS: Higher Rates of Autism Found in Clusters Around Los Angeles:

"Researchers at the U.C. Davis MIND Institute have discovered regions in the state of California that have notably higher autism incidence. But the story is more complicated, and more sad, than one might think at first. Instead of indications of an “autism epidemic”, these clusters point to the fact that minority and poor children are much less likely to receive autism diagnoses.

I don’t have the paper yet (I’m still trying to find the abstract), but articles in the Woodland Daily Democrat and the San Diego Union-Tribune are reporting the story.

The clusters do not appear to point to environmental causes. Instead…well, read for yourself:

Researchers said that in this investigation the clusters probably are not correlated with specific environmental pollutants or other “exposures.” Rather, they correlate to areas where residents are more educated."