Living on a road with heavy traffic can increase the risk of autism in children by 2 or even 3 times due to a polluted environment, California scientists warn. They found that air, which contains high concentrations of harmful substances from moving cars, has a direct and significant effect on the brain of children in the womb or who are under the age of 1 year.
The study was based on a thorough analysis by experts of data on 279 children with autism and 245 who do not have it at all. To assess the level of exposure to harmful substances that appear from car exhaust, scientists used materials from the US Environmental Protection Agency. This made it possible to most accurately determine air pollution in specific areas.
After processing the information received, the researchers found that during the first year of life, children who lived in houses near major freeways were autistic 3 times more often than those who lived away from roads. A double risk of autism was found in those children whose mothers lived near major freeways while bearing the fetus, until his birth.
"Autism is mainly associated with human genes, but harmful substances in the air can contribute to the development of the disease," explains Professor Heather Wolf, lead doctor at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. He also adds: "We have long known that polluted air negatively affects the lungs of a person, but we were not even aware of its ability to affect the brain."
