Pet Shampoo Causes Autism?
According to a new survey presented at the International Meeting for Autism Researching mothers of children with autism were twice as likely to have used pet shampoo that contains pyrethrins as those mothers with healthy children.
Pyrethrins are a pair of natural compounds that are potentially used as insecticides. They are neurotoxins that attack the nervous system of all insects so are commonly used in pet shampoos. However, there is now some evidence that this chemical could link to autism (just like everything else links to autism, right?).
Scientists in the study asked mothers to outline any chemicals they and their children had been exposed to (weed killers, insecticides, pet shampoos) from conception to the child’s first birthday (because, obviously, children don’t catch autism after their first birthday).
They found the strongest association to be in the second trimester when the mothers were 2.6 times more likely to have been exposed to that particular chemical.
What is really interesting is that several years ago Eric Courchesne, professor of neuroscience at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine found that some children with autism showed brain overgrowth during their first few years of life, not a decrease like the pyrenthrins would have created.
So, I supposed the question then is…doggy shampoo, really? I’m sure that environmental agents and toxins do play a role in every developmental disability. Heck, look what drugs and alcohol do to a fetus.
Of course, every toxin has the potential to harm both mother and child but to actually cause autism from one chemical? I’m skeptical.
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