Autism Rising

autism rates' width=The Autism Puzzle: Connecting the Dots Between Environmental Toxins and Rising Autism Rates (Seven Stories Press) by E editor Brita Belli is an in-depth look into the connection between environmental pollution, heavy metals, disruptive chemicals in everyday products and medicine administered during pregnancy and childbirth with rising autism rates. Mounting evidence suggests we have altered our bodies’ natural chemical balances in an increasingly urbanized world. Now, more than ever, prospective parents are forced to face the dangers of hidden and federally unregulated toxins lurking in their products, homes and food supply. With autism currently diagnosed in 1 out of 88 kids in the U.S.—a 78% increase over the past decade “with no sign of abating”—Belli warns that even those already aware of the dangers of chemicals may still be “looking in the wrong place for these toxic exposures.”

Through extensive scientific data and personal portraits across an autism-struck America, readers are exposed to a growing population united in a quest for answers, including determined groups of relentless research-junkie mothers, a university professor and parent to an autistic child conducting his own intriguing case studies and organizations and legislators fighting for the Safe Chemicals Act against a well-lobbied chemical industry.

The Autism Puzzle asks, as autism rates continue to climb, must the public remain helpless? Or will an “informed and outraged” citizenry and scientific community empower political action to cast out chemicals known to harm developing brains and usher in a new era guided by safety and transparency?