52 What is Autism?
ASD is caused by specific genetic mutations. As we have mentioned in
Chapter 1, human genes do not change that quickly. “Genetic drift,” the degree,
to which genes change over time, is ~1% per 100 years. Therefore, with such a
slow pace of change, there can be no such thing as a sudden “genetic pan-
demic.” While a rare type of genetic autism may exist (at the background rate
of “1 in 10,000”), the autism epidemic (at about “1 in 45”) cannot be due to
genetic drift.
In addition, if autism were genetic, because it affects more males than
females, geneticists teach us that it would have to be an X‐chromosome‐
linked disorder. (Girls, having two X chromosomes, would then have a
redundant good chromosome, so the disorder would not manifest as often
in females as in males who have only one X chromosome). For a girl to
have autism, she would need to receive a defective X chromosome from
each parent, meaning they both carried the defect. The problem lies in the
fact that if the father has the defect to pass on to his daughter, and it is on
his only X chromosome, then he should be affected by the disorder as well.
Since autistic daughters rarely, if ever, have autistic fathers, the theory that
“autism is genetic” fails because its claim does not match the empirical
evidence [1].
There are two main recognized causes for any epidemic: an infectious
agent (i.e., current Zika pandemic) or a widespread toxic exposure (i.e., PCB,
DDT, DEP, and synthetic fragrances). Autism is due to the latter [2–15].
Corresponding to the sharply increasing level of mercury in the immuniza-
tion schedule globally, which started in the late 1980s, there was an increas-
ing rate of autism among children. This also explains why autism among 40‐,
50‐, 60‐, 70‐ and 80‐year‐olds (born before the 1980s) is not epidemic, but
rather rare. Those over 30 did not routinely get levels of vaccine‐related mer-
cury exposure high enough to cause regressive autism.Table 2.1 Most common chromosomal mutations associated with ASD.Prader–Willi syndrome (deletion in paternal allele) 15q11–q13
Angelman syndrome(deletion) UBE3A
Smith–Magenis syndrome 17p11.2 del
Velocardiofacial/DiGeorge syndrome 22q11.2 del
Ch 22q11 duplication syndrome 22q11.2 dup
Potocki–upski syndrome 17p11.2 dup
Down syndrome Trisomy of chromosome 21
Phelan–McDermid syndrome 22q13.3 del
Williams syndrome 7q11.23