1. NEW JERSEY: CDC STUDYING LINK BETWEEN ENVIRONMENT AND AUTISM

In what is "uncharted territory" for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the agency is studying whether pollution may increase the rate of autism in children. The CDC and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry this week began compiling information on "suspected sources of pollution" in Brick Township, NJ, that may be causing an "autism cluster." A local group, Parents of Special Services and Education, has documented at least 26 autistic children in the town between the ages of 3 and 7, and nine others whose parents once lived in Brick. The National Institutes of Health estimates that 20 out of 10,000 children are autistic. Robert Knowles of ATSDR said researchers believe autism is caused by either environmental factors, genetics, or a combination of the two. However, chemical contaminants have not been linked to the cause of autism, which is thought to begin during the first month of gestation when the embryo's neural tube is closing and the brain stem is forming.

The federal study will examine a local landfill and the Metedeconk River as possible contamination sources. The CDC began its first study of autism this summer in a five-county region of metropolitan Atlanta, and it is "accumulating a list of environmental agents that other studies ... suggest may be linked to autism" (Regina McEnery, Bergen [NJ] Record, 11/8).
 

2. "A Toxic Free Future" - http://www.worldwildlife.org/toxics

World Wildlife Fund's Global Toxics Initiative has recently added a new toxic chemicals web page to WWF's main web site. WWF recognizes that controlling pollution is critical to conserving biodiversity. Our efforts to increase scientific understanding of toxic chemicals and to phase out and ban these harmful compounds stem from evidence of their ability to undermine the basic functions of entire ecosystems, as well as their impact on wildlife and human health.

Highlights of the Global Toxics Initiative Web Site include: * The latest scientific discoveries involving endocrine disruption * Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) and the Global POPs treaty negotiations * Reducing reliance on high-risk pesticides in agriculture and disease vector control * Toxic Chemicals Action Kit - What you can do to reduce use and exposure to toxic chemicals