How It Happened (p.17)

Contrary to conventional medical wisdom, the cause of autism is not primarily genetic, but is a complex combination of genetics and environment. Genetics, so to speak, load the gun, and environment pulls the trigger.

Genetics alone don't cause epidemics. Genetics are essentially constant from one generation to the next. Epidemics occur when genetic vulnerabilities are assaulted by environmental changes-- introductions of a new virus, a new bacteria, or a new toxin.

Autism has increased, according to most estimates, from approximately one in every 2,500 to 10,000 births to one in every 150-166 births, over just the past twenty years. This is a fifteen-fold to sixty-fold increase: 1,500 percent to 6,000 percent. Now at least a half-million American children have autism-spectrum disorders, and some experts believe it to be as high as 1.5 million. Better diagnosis does not account for this, because the diagnostic criteria have not changed significantly for many years. Besides, if this epidemic were just a matter of more accurate diagnosis during childhood, where are all the thirty-year-old autistics?

ADHD has increased by at least 400 percent over the same twenty years. Now, 3.5 million children suffer from it. The very worst symptoms of ADHD are similar to those of children on the autism spectrum. American kids now consume 90 percent of the world's Ritalin, the most popular ADHD medication.

Asthma has increased by 300 percent over the same time period, and asthma deaths have increased by 56 percent, despite improvements in acute crisis care. Now 6 million American kids have asthma.

Allergies have increased by 400 percent over this period. Now approximately 20 percent of all kids have some type of allergy. Peanut allergy, one of the most common fatal food allergies, has more than doubled since 1997. Two hundred people, many of them children, now die from food allergies every year.

Add together all of the children who have these disorders, and it comes to 20 million kids, or almost one-third of all American children. Of these 20 million, at least 10 million have serious problems: autism-spectrum disorders, ADHD, asthma, or sever allergies. These conditions limit their lives, define their identities, and haunt their families.

(Disclaimer: This project is for translation practice and improvement of general understanding of autism only.)