Autism Clusters Found in California's Major Cities

This is nothing new i suppose, however it's still interesting to consider :

California scientists have identified autism clusters where children are twice as likely to have autism and mostly have highly educated parents

"In contrast, other research has shown that attention deficit disorders are less likely in children of high socioeconomic status. The UC Davis study also found a link between autism and older age of the parents, but it was much weaker than the link to education."


When looking for clusters of diseases, the aim “is to look for possible evidence of localized sources of exposures,” such as a local industry, Hertz-Picciotto said.

“Since the [autism] clusters seemed to be associated, quite consistently, with parental education, the conclusion here is that environmental factors that are involved in autism are not likely to be localized sources of contaminants. This means we need to look within the homes, or for widely dispersed types of environmental factors,” she said.