Nuclear particles and Autism.

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I have a bit of a theory that autism may have to do with the nuclear radiation levels. This may not be causation, but it seems the countries with the highest nuclear power plant density are also the ones with the most autism. Also, Japan has a very high rate of autism, perhaps from the power plants as well as Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the 1940's. Anyone think there is a relationship? The U.S has 104 reactors and 1/88 (1.14%), Japan has 1.61% with 54 reactors (2 operational after Fukishima), and France has .6% with 58 Power plants operational. Perhaps the relationship is infact between the income levels and the levels of research. For example a country that can afford 54 reactors (Japan) will have more money to study autism than, for example, Uganda. Maybe it is in the amount of vaccines those countries can produce. What do you think?

Thanks.

You guys tend to think that I have no Idea what correlation and causation are. I am aware of the fact that they are not equal, which is why I made an effort to mention that in my post. " For example a country that can afford 54 reactors (Japan) will have more money to study autism than, for example, Uganda. Maybe it is in the amount of vaccines those countries can produce. What do you think?".

I would like to see the evidence that leads to this conclusion tbh. Even if there is any I am confident that we would be looking at correlation as opposed to causation. You imply that significant levels of radiation are emmited from nuclear power plants. I would think (and hope) that this is not the case or else there would be a lot more objection to them. My understanding is that a massive ammount of effort and expense is put into systems to prevent emmisions and safely contain waste. That said, your hypothesis should be easily testable by comparing ASD distribution with nuclear power plant distribution within specific states and counries - they would match if this were true. That would be the easiest way to test your theory. I suspect that a pattern like this would have been noticed decades ago however so probably a non-starter i'm afraid.

Maybe countries with higher legvels of BAP have more people who can figure out how to build a reactor. And also more people who can diagnose ASD.

Also, the vaccine link has been proven to be fraudulent lies.

Nuclear power plants aren't the best thing to use for your study if you are worried about radiation. Better would be background radiation level from natural sources, such as minerals in the ground. There are some hot springs in Europe that are radioactive for example. Another source of radiation is medical procedures such as CTs and X-rays. Nuclear power plants are really very negligible compared to that. You would probably not find significant increases of radiation for sites other than the Chernobyl and Fukushima accidents. (There have been other significant accidents not related to nuclear power plants; for example the Goiania incident, which killed four people and was traced back to an abandoned radiotherapy machine.)

Also remember that radiation exposure was actually a good deal higher in the past than it is now. Before we knew that radiation (including from radioactive materials and from X-ray exposure) was dangerous, it was used for purposes that we today would consider ludicrously dangerous. They used to use radium to make watch dials glow in the dark and even put it in health tonics. They used X-rays for entertainment and for trivial purposes like buying well-fitting shoes. These exposures were much higher than anything we would consider safe today and some people died (if you are interested, you could check out the story of the "radium girls", watch-dial painters whose exposure to the radioactive paint they used caused illness and death for many).

I would expect that, if autism is linked to exposure to ionizing radiation, we would find higher rates among the populations which were exposed to radiation in the past, and also among those who live in areas with high natural radioactivity, and those who have been exposed during accidents and disasters. Nuclear power plants would be quite far down the list, since they are not an appreciable part of the average person's exposure.

Callista is right about background exposure to radiation. If I remember right one of the occupations with highest exposure to radiation is actually airline workers because they are being exposed to greater than normal amounts of cosmic radiation every time they fly (it is not that much if you fly only one time, but airline workers are constantly in the air, and the small amounts add up over time). People who live at high altitudes also get more radiation from space.

People in the USA might be interested in calculating their radiation exposure per year for fun, you can do it here: http://www.epa.gov/radiation/understand/calculate.html

It gives you a good idea of all the different places radiation comes from and how big of a dose it is.

P.S. the calculator says an LCD wristwatch gives off more radiation than a nuclear power plant within 50 miles of you!

I would look into coal power plants if your worried about radioactive particles. nuclear is one of the most heavily regulated industry's on the planet

I thought that sort of thing was the cause of other things besides Autism, like physical deformities. Or is that another thing? I know radiation can cause damage to unborn babies.

I got "it" from sitting too close to the TV set as a kid.