PCBs cause autism-like condition in newborn rats

From the Los Angeles Times:

Traces of a chemical banned 30 years ago cause brain abnormalities in newborn lab animals that are similar to defects in children with autism, according to a new study by University of California scientists.

Many scientists say that an array of chemicals in the environment are scrambling brain development and could play a role in children's learning disorders.

The new study adds to the evidence by showing that PCBs, polychlorinated biphenyls, disrupt the auditory cortex, a part of the brain that is impaired in autistic children....The new research shows brain development is skewed when animals are exposed to amounts of PCBs in the same range as some highly exposed people. It will be published in this week's online Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

...Last year, two internationally known environmental scientists reported in a medical journal that industrial chemicals may be causing a "silent pandemic" of learning disorders. Dr. Philippe Grandjean of Harvard School of Public Health and Dr. Philip J. Landrigan of Mount Sinai School of Medicine identified 202 chemicals — including PCBs and mercury — that could be contributing to autism, attention deficit disorders and other neurological disorders, and they urged more human studies.

read more here.

Notes:

PCBs are the stuff GE (good old Jack Welch) was dumping into the Hudson River and refusing to clean up: http://www.riverkeeper.org/campaign.php/ge_pcbs/the_facts/44

GE also purposely put waste PCBs in sand that it gave away to people to use as fillers for building and play sand for children: http://users.nac.net/chasstamm/hrfanjorg/gereport.htm

Farmed salmon is a huge source of PCBs. Our buddies at the Environmental Working Group say some supermarket salmon tested SO HIGH they recommended NEVER EAT MORE THAN ONCE. Don't eat, period, please! Fish farming is also horrible for the environment.