Is autism becoming epidemic?

I read a statistic that the odds of a child being born with autism is 1 in 150! This is a big increase from the past. Are there theories as what the cause is, and why it's increasing? Pollution? Hormones in the water/food? Pesticides? Is anybody researching this aspect?

Autism is the fastest-growing serious developmental disability in the U.S. The statistics now are actually 1 child in 166 will be diagnosed with autism and a new case of autism is diagnosed every 20 minutes. More children will be diagnosed with autism this year than with AIDS, diabetes and cancer combined.

There is a lot of controversy as to what causes autism. Some of the beliefs are:

1. there is genetic pre-disposition
2. that it is due to thimerasol in vaccines
3. environmental factors
4. a combination of any of the above.

Since autism affects each person differently, it is really hard to determine the cause, but they are working on it. I think there is more awareness of autism now than there once was which is probably why more people are being diagnosed.

I have read some interesting things on autism.
The percentage drop in people being diagnosed as being retarded is almost the same amount as the increase in autism.
Years ago, people were just labeled as retarded but the medical professionals are now better at seeing the difference of retardation and autism.
I do not know why the media does not show this and just is causing a panic in society.

It is an epidemic...the reality is the memebers of the health community and our government, along with others in the world have "theories" as to why the increase in the numbers of people in the worl with autism. No one knows why. One theory is children watching too much television and playing too many video games. Another theory is vaccines cause autism. Another is all of the hormones and additives in our food is causing the autism. It depends on who you are asking...for each has its own answer. I personally believe that from the articles and evidence I have read...that vaccines play a huge part in the increase due to mercury levels in the vaccines being admin.
The Autism 鈥?Vaccine Connection:
Comparison of Characteristics

AUTISM/ MERCURY POISONING -share same characteristics
Motor Skills and Movement Disorders Uncoordinated; clumsiness; rocking; circling; flaps arms; walks on toes; difficulty with walking, sitting, crawling; difficulty with swallowing or chewing Uncoordinated; clumsiness; rocking; circling; flaps arms; walks on toes; difficulty with walking or sitting; difficulty with swallowing or chewing
Sensory Disorders- share same characteristics
Oversensitive to sound; does not like to be touched; abnormal sensations in mouth, arms and legs Oversensitive to sound; does not like to be touched; abnormal sensations in mouth, arms and legs
Speech, Hearing & Language Development- share same characteristics
Delayed language or failure to develop speech; problems with articulation; mild to severe hearing loss; word use errors Loss of speech or failure to develop speech; problems with articulation; mild to severe hearing loss; word retrieval problems
Cognitive Ability Borderline intelligence; mental retardation (may be reversed); poor concentration and attention; difficulty following complex commands; difficulty with word comprehension; difficulty with understanding abstract ideas and symbols Borderline intelligence; mental retardation (may be reversed); poor concentration & attention; difficulty following complex commands; difficulty with word comprehension; difficulty with understanding abstract ideas and symbols
Physical Characteristics and Functional Disturbances-share same characteristics
Weakening muscle strength, especially upper body; rash, dermatitis; abnormal sweating; poor circulation and high heart rate; diarrhea, constipation, abdominal discomfort and incontinence; anorexia; seizures; tendency to have allergies and asthma; family history of autoimmune symptoms, especially rheumatoid arthritis Weakening muscle strength, especially upper body; rash, dermatitis; abnormal sweating; poor circulation and high heart rate; diarrhea, constipation, abdominal discomfort and incontinence; anorexia; seizures; tendency to have allergies and asthma; more likely to have autoimmune symptoms, especially rheumatoid arthritis
Behavior Difficulty-share same characteristics
sleeping; staring and unprovoked crying; injures self (such as head banging); social isolation Difficulty sleeping; staring and unprovoked crying; injures self (such as head banging); social isolation
Visual Problems - share same characteristics
Poor eye contact; blurred vision Poor eye

I don't think there's suddenly been an increase in the number of people being born with autism.

I do think there's been an increase in awareness, and diagnostic ability.

More children are being recognized as having an autistic spectrum disease. Which means more kids are getting the early interventions they need.

This is a good thing for those kids and families, but also for society as a whole. Kids who get help are less likely to grow up to be frustrated antisocial adults.

My 5 yr old son has mercury toxicity and has been fully vaccinated. According to the dr. his vaccines were not supposed to contain mercury. I believe otherwise. Thimersol was supposed to be removed but they still use it in the manufacturing process. The mercury in the thimerosol binds to the proteins in the vaccines. There is still some mercury left- how much I don't know. There are other metals like aluminum, and chemicals like formaldehyde that are present in the vaccines. When you add in pollution, flame-retardants, etc. this is a receipe for disaster in young children. Flame-retardants are found in pajamas, fabrics for furniturne, etc. These are being found in the blood. When China burns those electronic appliances, dangerous metals and chemicals are polluting the air and its spreading worldwide!!
The officials of the Olympics said that if the levels of pollution don't meet the standards, events like bike marathons will be cancelled. The problem with autistic kids, is their bodies cannot remove the toxins and they build-up. This is causing the epidemic of autism. The toxins cause inflammation in the body ( in some cases even the brain is affected), and dysfunction of the immune and gastrointestinal systems. Use your common sense. Did you see so many messed-up kids while you were growing up? I certainly did not. Doctors may be diagnosing autism better but yes, autism is becoming an epidemic world-wide.
Only people who have separated themselves, like the Amish, do not have autism. This is a reality check.
No vaccinations= no case of autism

The only study I could find that directly addresses this question in an objective manner is this:

http://www.wombecology.com/caesareans.ht...

The increase in the safety of C-sections--along with the amazing ability to hide surgical scarring--has made this procedure the preferred method by obstetricians in cases of difficult births. If there is ANY difficulty associated with a pregnancy, it is now deemed safer to do a C-section than to risk natural birth.

Also, there is a valid theoretical reason to suspect the link between autism and truamatic birth, whereas there are no valid theoretical or logical reasons to suspect pollutants. In fact, there is scarce empirical evidence of any connection between pollutants and brain damage. To make such a connection requires that autism be seen as a form of brain damage; but in obvious cases of brain damage, the damage can be compensated for simply by training, whereas autism is more like PTSD. There is a definite emotional resistance to a "cure" among the afflicted themselves.

Again do your research on this it is so interesting! I've been looking into this alot lately. They say that vaccines or mercury in vaccines (or that was in vaccines) does not cause autism. Well I am not convinced of that. I do believe that there are children born with autism, but I also think that children are getting it at a later age also. I have read so many stories of parents saying, my child was fine until a certain age. Then their child went down hill from there. No one knows, and thats why I don't think they can rule out anything without proper research. Pollution, Hormones in food or water, pesticides, vaccines these all could be a cause. No one has ruled them out yet, as far as I can see.