EiR Blog

The Daily Telegraph (London) this week reported on another study linking chemicals in common household products to autism. This time the culprit is a group of insecticides commonly found in pet shampoos designed to kill fleas. It seems there is increasing acceptance that an interaction between genetics and environmental triggers (including synthetic chemicals) may be the key to understanding autism which now affects around 1 in 150 children in developed countries. The latest study reported by the Telegraph was carried out by Professor Irva Hertz-Picciotto and colleagues at the University of California, who found that expectant mothers who used pet shampoos containing pyrethrins to kill their pet's fleas were twice as likely to go on to have children with autism. Pyrethrins are a pair of chemicals that act as insecticides by attacking the nervous systems of insects In terms of human health They have been regarded as one of the safest...