Autism Awareness Month Moving From Awareness to Action -

Environmental Factors -What Are They & Why Do They Matter?

Educational Forum Washington, DC US House of Representatives Presented by SafeMinds April 12, 2013

Environmental Factors What Are They & Why Do They Matter?

Facilitator: Scott Bono, Board Member, SafeMinds Speakers and Topics Existing Knowledge on Environmental Factors Related to Autism: Richard Deth, PhD, Professor of Pharmacology, Northeastern University and Autism Researcher The Environmental Epidemiology of Autism: Dr. Irva Hertz-Picciotto, Professor & Deputy Director, Center for Children's Environmental Health M.I.N.D. Institute (Medical Investigations of Neurodevelopmental Disorders) University of California Davis. Out of Balance: The Disparity Between Environmental and Genetic Research: Lyn Redwood RN, MSN Inter-agency Autism Coordinating Committee; Vice-President & Co-Chair of Research Committee, SafeMinds

Awareness: Autism Statistics

In our lifetime from 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 50 The CDC in 2012 announced that 1 in 88 children born in the year 2000 was on autism spectrum (1 in 54 boys & 1 in 252 girls) The CDC announced in 2013 that 1 in 50 school aged children had autism

SafeMinds Continues its Advocacy

SafeMinds was founded a dozen years ago by parents who recognized the importance of addressing the environmental factors at the root of the autism epidemic. Top of the list was medical exposures to mercury a contentious issue for some, but common sense to others. We in collaboration with other organizations have long fought for increased quality research on environmental factors.

Not a Genetic Epidemic

There is no such thing as a genetic epidemic. The increased numbers cannot be explained away. It is NOT simply: Better awareness by parents Better diagnosis by doctors That it is now in vogue to have your child diagnosed with autism We have children who have complex medical conditions of varying degrees and co-morbid diagnoses, caused not be bad genes but by environmental factors including medical injuries.

Facilitator: Scott Bono, Board Member, SafeMinds

Scott Bono is Chairman Emeritus and a founding board member of the National Autism Association (NAA). Scott has been an active advocate on behalf of autistic children and families since the early 1990s at the local, state and national levels. He has appeared before the US Congress, and has spoken at rallies, universities and local service organizations to increase awareness of the need for biomedical research, treatments, therapies, and improved educational opportunities for those with autism. When lobbying Congress and the State Legislature, Scott advocates on behalf of those who cannot defend their own rights and strives to educate society that autism is not a lifelong incurable disorder but one that is biomedically definable and treatable. Most recently Scott has served on the SafeMinds Government Affairs Committee as Co-Chair.

Existing Knowledge on Environmental Factors Related to Autism: Richard Deth, PhD, Professor of Pharmacology, Northeastern University and Autism Researcher
Dr. Richard Deth is a molecular neuropharmacologist and Professor of Pharmacology at Northeastern University in Boston. His research efforts are directed toward elucidating the molecular events causing neuropsychiatric disorders in which oxidative stress and impaired methylation are prominent features. These include autism, ADHD, schizophrenia and Alzheimers disease. His laboratory was first to discover the novel signaling mechanism of D4 dopamine receptorstimulated phospholipid methylation, which appears to be important for neuronal synchronization during attention. A key aspect of his work is regulation of the folate and B12-dependent enzyme methionine synthase, which supplies methyl groups to the D4 receptor and is inhibited by oxidative stress. Dr. Deth is the author of the book: Molecular Origins of Human Attention: The Dopamine-Folate Connection.

Current Research Interests 1. Role of redox and methylation status in neurodevelopmental disorders. 2. Receptor dependent regulation of gene expression via epigenetic mechanisms. 3. Involvement of epigenetic mechanisms in drug addiction 4. Role of D4 -dopamine receptor - mediated phospholipid methylation in psychiatric illnesses. 5. Redox and methylation effects of casein/gluten -derived opiate peptides.

The Environmental Epidemiology of Autism: Dr. Irva Hertz-Picciotto, Professor & Deputy Director, Center for Children's Environmental Health M.I.N.D. Institute (Medical Investigations of Neurodevelopmental Disorders) University of California Davis.
Irva Hertz-Picciotto is an internationally renowned environmental epidemiologist with more than 200 scientific publications addressing environmental exposures, their interactions with nutrition, and their influences on pregnancy, the newborn, and child development. She leads a program of interdisciplinary research on the environmental contributors to autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders, as well as mechanisms of pathogenesis. Studies involve collaborations with immunology, molecular biology and microbiology, genomics, environmental sciences, nutrition and biostatistics. Hertz-Picciotto launched the CHARGE Study, the first large, comprehensive population-based study of environmental factors in autism, and the landmark MARBLES study of early environmental and biologic predictors of autism. She also collaborates on the multi-site EARLI study of risk factors for autism spectrum disorders, and directs the Northern California Center for the National Children's Study. Beyond the autism program, other projects have focused on exposure-related behaviors, polychlorinated biphenyls and pesticides in relation to early growth and development, lead exposures during pregnancy, and the relation of air pollutants to immune development and early acute respiratory illness. Hertz-Picciotto has chaired or served several state, national and international advisory panels and was elected president of two of the largest professional epidemiology societies. She sits on editorial boards for major scientific journals in epidemiology, environmental health, and autism and has taught epidemiologic methods on four continents. In 2011, she received the Goldsmith Lifetime Achievement Award by the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology.

Out of Balance: The Disparity Between Environmental and Genetic Research: Lyn Redwood RN, MSN Inter-agency Autism Coordinating Committee; Vice-President & Co-Chair of Research Committee, SafeMinds

Lyn Redwood, R.N., M.S.N., is co-founder and board member of the Coalition for SafeMinds and the National Autism Association. Ms. Redwood testified before the Government Reform Committee on Mercury in Medicine: Are we taking unnecessary risks? in 2000, and before a Congressional sub-committee on health in 2003. She has published in the journals Neurotoxicology, Molecular Psychiatry, Medical Hypotheses, Mothering Magazine, and Autism-Aspergers Digest. Ms. Redwood has appeared on "Good Morning America," the Montel Williams Show, and has been interviewed by U.S News and World Report, Wired Magazine, People and numerous other publications. She is prominently featured in the award-winning book by David Kirby Evidence of Harm. Ms. Redwood served on the Department of Defense Autism Spectrum Disorder Research Program from 2007-2009 and currently serves as a public member of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee. She resides outside Atlanta with her husband Tommy, and three children, Hanna, Drew and Will.