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Are herbicides causing autism?

By 2025, half of all U.S. kids will be autistic, according to MIT scientists Stephanie Seneff, who attributes the controversial prediction to an increase in…

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By 2025, half of all U.S. kids will be autistic.

That’s the shocking claim Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientist Stephanie Seneff made in a presentation earlier this summer. The source she credits with the rise of autism in children is a chemical traced to Monsanto’s weed-killing spray, Roundup.

Seneff compared the increased use of Roundup with increases in autism rates, showing that heavy use of the herbicide that contains the chemical glyphosate has been rising since 1990, alongside the number of children diagnosed with autism. Critics have argued that the information is simply coincidental — proving, perhaps, correlation but not causation.

The group Moms Across America recently met with the Environmental Protection Agency, citing their own study that American mothers’ breast milk contains dangerous levels of glyphosate, although the studies that have debunked that fact have largely been commissioned by Monsanto and chemical partners.

Seneff argued that the chemical in Roundup increases pathogens and interrupts the process in developing neurotransmitters. When it comes to the extent of public exposure, she said that there is little research in the area. Many U.S. crops, including corn and soybean products, are sprayed with the chemical. Last year, the EPA said that the chemical is safe at certain levels. The U.S. permits levels that are higher than in other countries.

Monsanto's product is not popular among environmentalists and health advocates alike. Entire countries — from the Netherlands to Sri Lanka — have tried to reduce or ban the herbicide. El Salvador officially banned it when linking the chemical to kidney disease in agricultural workers.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 1 in 68 8-year-olds in the United States were placed on the Autism Spectrum Disorder in 2010. The 8-year-olds diagnosed with some level of autism were far more likely to be male. Latinos were the least likely to be diagnosed. The causes of autism are not yet fully understood — increased diagnosis, parental age and more awareness are cited to explain the increased number of children with autism. Other factors have been attributed, without proof, to causing autism, from vaccinations to distant parents. 

Redditor Jasonp55 posted his own correlation graph comparing rising sales of organic food — or food not affected by pesticides or herbicides — to the rising autism rate. With his tongue in his cheek, the Redditor titled the post, “I think I may have discovered the ‘real’ cause of autism.”

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