I have heard about autism being connected to vaccines and that is why the rates have gone up so much. Well that got me thinking, what is different between the 1950s and now? Why have the rates risen so dramatically, because it is more than just lack of testing. One thing that has become much more common practice is inducing labor chemically. This procedure started in the late 1950s and by the 1980s and 1990s became routine in high income countries. Except Japan. Their culture takes a much more natural method. In the 1950s, 95% of their births took place at home with midwives. It was not until the mid 60s that they became more reliant on hospitals. So they have a lower rate of induction because it is mostly only for emergency births. Now I do not have the numbers to show how the pattern between the two from the 50s until now, but I do have current numbers with sources for them.
In the U.S., the current autism prevalence is about 1 in 36 kids (2.8–3.2%).
Source: CDC
(https://www.cdc.gov/autism/data-research/index.html)
In Japan, prevalence is reported closer to 1 in 69 kids (1.45%), though some cohort studies that track kids more carefully say it can exceed 3%.
Source: JAMA Network
(https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2779443)
Now if you look at the numbers for inductions via chemicals between the two countries:
U.S. induction rate is roughly 25% of births.
Source: BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth
(https://bmcpregnancychildbirth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12884-020-03137-x)
Japan’s induction rate is closer to 10–15% of births.
Source: PMC (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8080357)
So math-wise:
Autism is 2x higher in the U.S. than in Japan.
Induction is also 2x higher in the U.S. than in Japan.
Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying this proves anything. They could be connected or this could all be coincidence. But two separate bits of data (ASD rates vs induction rates) just so happen to line up and the math does not lie. So the question that leaves is “Is a less natural birth by forcing labor vs waiting for the baby to come on their own like we used to affecting our children?”
Posted by Top-Koala5617
12 Comments
Oral contraceptives are another possibility
Unrealistic American expectations?
I think it’s because some countries allow children to be children rather than expecting them to be 100% logical from age 5.
Obviously this opinion is of no merit whatsoever. It could be true but I doubt things are that simple.
Autism rates in the US began to skyrocket in the 90s. So there goes your attempt at gaslighting.
Pfoa.
In California 1 in 15
What will happen when in a few years 50% of the population lacks empathy for the other 50%? I mention this as a common symptom of autism according to medicine.
It’s not chemically induced IMO. I read a great study on the prevalence of autism and screen use by parents a while ago and it makes way more sense and tracks way more than vaccines, chemicals, etc.
Children need a lot of direct interaction to develop properly mentally. If they do something that they think is funny, look at you, and expect a reaction while you stare blankly at your phone, it hurts their development. Autism has gotten worse and worse as screen induced distraction by the parents has become more and more common, and Americans are especially bad about frowning at their phones mindlessly all day long.
Detection rates
Theres a factor no one seems to consider, and that is the legalization of cannabis and the pretty steep rise in autism in the last decade.
I was teaching early years and it just really seemed like there was a certain type of person that would have a child with autism, sometimes multiple children with autism. And I’ll be honest, they’re all pot heads. Even a few of my high school smoke session friends have children with autism.
We should just face the facts, there probably isn’t one cause of autism, it’s probably a combination of things. It could even be sunscreen. We don’t know because they already know and won’t tell us. A pot smoking, sunscreen slathering, Tylenol popping mother is most definitely also vaccinating her children.
Japan also has the least vaccinated population of any developed country in the world.
omg. this conversation is so frustrating. Autism only became part of a spectrum in the mid-90s. So its not that “testing wasn’t available” pre-90s, its that we didnt recognize more than half of those with autism as having autism, because it wasn’t autism then. We just thought the neighbor Allen that collected miniature spoons but maintained a job as a mailman was a weirdo, not autistic. Now there can be real conversation on whether we should pathologize “weirdos” like Allen or not, and “redefine” what is and is not Autism/ND disability, but we can’t pretend we dont know why the numbers rose. Austistic people always existed at the same rates. Nothing has changed.
I’ve always assumed if it is indeed vaccine induced, then it would be hepatitis b vaccine honestly. It was introduced in the early 1990’s, an increase was noticed in 1994 I believe.
The issue I have is you can only get hepatitis b through sex or sharing needles, so why do newborns need this? Well apparently it can’t wait because parents aren’t seen as responsible.
I’ll look into your data, thanks