Women who work with solvents are more likely to have autistic children

Women who are exposed to solvents at work are 1.5 times more likely to have a child with autism, a new study suggests.  

The recent surge in cases of autism - which now affects one in every 68 children in the US - suggests that something more than genetic inheritance is at play. 

But autism remains a fairly mysterious condition. Its severity exists on a wide spectrum, its cause is unknown and its risk factors many and various. 

New National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) research uncovered a strong link between autistic children and mothers who work industrial jobs that expose them to potent chemicals. 

The study authors think that, while these children are still in the womb, they get exposed to the same toxins their mothers are, and it may alter their brain development. 

Exposure to high levels of powerful solvent chemicals at work is linked to a 1.5-fold higher chance women will have children with autism in new US government research

Exposure to high levels of powerful solvent chemicals at work is linked to a 1.5-fold higher chance women will have children with autism in new US government research 

In less than 20 years, the number of eight-year-olds who are on the autism spectrum has more than doubled. 

In 2000, autism affected about one in every 150 US children. 

But 2014, that number had shot up to one in every 59 children. 

As for why, that's a question up for a great deal of debate. 

Scientists are fairly certain that genetics have something to do with autism, which is more likely to affect a child who has a sibling on the spectrum. 

From there, risk factors are a loose, disjointed network. Autism is more common in boys, children of older parents, and children with intellectual disabilities and most children don't get diagnosed until after age four, but there's no cut-off age. 

After much controversy, the scientific community has ruled out the notion that vaccines are a risk factor much less a cause for autism. 

Some attribute the rapid increase in cases

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