Personal Injury Law

Study Links Low Birth Weight To Autism on Eve Of March On Washington

By Jane Akre

Babies born pre-term and underweight, especially girls, are twice as likely to develop autism, according to findings by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The study is being released on the eve of a planned march on Washington D.C. by parents, such as actress/author, Jenny McCarthy and other families affected by the neurological brain disorder, autism.

While the cause remains unknown, this is the first study to look at how gender affects the risk for autism. 

The CDC compared data from 565 children who were born between 1986 and 1993, and suffering from autism. They were compared to a control group.

The findings showed that baby girls who weighed less than 5.5 pounds had 3.5 times the increased risk of developing autism. Similar-sized boys did not share the risk.

Also, girl babies born seven weeks prematurely had 5.4 times the increased risk of autism. For boys, prematurity and birth weight didn't have a significant difference.

The study findings, published in the June edition of the journal Pediatrics, 
suggest that although doctors aren't sure exactly what causes autism, it's believed that genetics, the sex of the child, and environmental factors have some role in acquiring the brain development disorder. 

Researchers have known for years that babies born prematurely are at risk for long-term disabilities such as blindness, and neurodevelopment problems or worse.

They are three times more likely to die during the first year of life, especially during the first month. One in eight births (more than 520,000 babies) in the U.S. is born premature each year.

One in 150 children in the United States suffers from autism or related disorders. At this time, there is no cure for autism. Generally appearing before a child turns three years of age, autism has serious implications for social communication and interaction, but proper guidance and early prognosis can largely affect the child's behavior.

Some three to six out of every 1,000 children will develop autism, according to the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Males are four times more likely to develop autism than that of girls.

While childhood vaccines and the mercury based preservative, thimerosal, are often blamed, the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program is determining who should receive federal compensation. When Georgia girl, Hanna Poling received compensation this spring, it opened up the emerging theory that pre-existing, undiagnosed conditions may lead to autism. 

Even former National Institutes of Health director, Dr. Bernadine Healy, has opened the door to the possibility that some children have pre-existing conditions that do not allow them to process vaccines for whatever reason.

While standard mainstream media continues to assure the public that thimerosal is no longer in vaccines, Johns Hopkins Institute for Vaccine Safety lists vaccines where the mercury based preservative is still contained.

 It is also present in some flu shots, routinely given to pregnant women.

A rally is planned for Wednesday, June 4^th, in Washington D.C. where families and activist actress, Jenny McCarthy and her partner, actor Jim Carrey plan to march the streets in front of the Capitol Building.

The mother of a boy recovering from autism, McCarthy's has formed, Talk About Curing Autism (TACA) which stresses it is not anti-vaccine but wants the government to reassess the schedule of mandatory childhood vaccines and the toxic ingredients included in them.  #

Full post as published by InjuryBoard on June 03, 2008 (boomark / email).