Seth's Blog

Two studies in Sweden by the same group have found high rates of defects in ultrasound machines used to scan pregnant women. The line of research began when doctors at the Karolinska Hospital discovered that many of their ultrasound machines were malfunctioning. (more…)

I have blogged several times about Caroline Rodger’s idea that sonograms during pregnancy greatly increase the risk of autism in the fetus. Her idea is supported by several lines of evidence, as she explains in this talk.

A new study provides more evidence. It found a high concordance rate among fraternal twins. In the general population from which the new study was drawn (California), about 1 child in 100 has autism. But if you are an identical twin, and your co-twin has autism spectrum disorder, your chance of having the same diagnosis is about 70%. The crucial point of the study is that the concordance was also high for fraternal twins: about 40%.  As one commenter put it, this result “puts a spotlight on pregnancy as a time when environmental factors might exert their effects”.

Another study found more risk of autism if the mom took an anti-depressant during pregnancy. This supports the idea that a bad prenatal environment causes autism.

Thanks to Paul Sas and Gary Wolf.

Robert Delaney is a geologist who does environmental cleanup in Michigan. While cleaning up an abandoned military base, he found remarkably high contamination by a chemical called PFOS. He had been wondering what causes autism. He came across a rodent study that found that the combination of PFOS and ultrasound was much more damaging to the nervous system than either alone. (See also this study.) He remembered that study when he read my posts about ultrasound and autism. He wrote to me: (more…)

I previously blogged (also here) about Carolyn Rodgers’s idea that prenatal ultrasound may cause autism. It turns out that she isn’t the only person with this idea; researchers at the University of Louisville recently published the same idea.

I learned about the Louisville study from Anne Weiss, who said the connection has been plausible for a long time.

Ultrasound was introduced into obstetrics in the 1970′s and was generally restricted to high-risk pregnancies.  By the 1980′s policy statements were issued by ACOG, the NIH and equivalent bodies in Europe and Canada stating that its use should remain limited to high-risk cases. Despite these recommendations, ultrasound technology became common in hospitals and doctors’ offices and routinely applied to low-risk populations. Within a short time the majority of pregnant woman were being exposed at prenatal visits, during multiple scans in hospitals, and during continuous monitoring during labour (which could mean 12 to 14 hours during childbirth alone). Skills and techniques used to monitor the fetus prior to the introduction of ultrasound (in utero and during the birth process) were slowly undermined by the technology and often underutilized.  Iatrogenic effects from false positive readings, – unnecessary C- sections, inductions, instrumental deliveries etc. caused harm to moms and babies, especially in the early 1980′s.

Three important names in the 1980s were (1) Robin Mole, who presented a paper “Possible Hazards of Imaging and Doppler Ultrasound in Obstetrics” to the Royal Society of Medicine Forum on Maternity and the Newborn:  Ultrasonagraphy in Obstetrics, April 1985. She was former director of the Medical Research Council Radiobiology Unit, England.  Also the work of (2) M.E. Stratmeyer – Research in ultrasound.  A public health view.  Birth and Family Journal 1980 and (3) Doreen Liebeskind – still at Albert Enstein and a prof of radiology- presented at a symposium at Columbia in 1983.   She was concerned that ultrasound may be producing subtle changes in the fetal brain perhaps affecting behavioral mechanisms, possible changes in reflexes, IQ, attention span or some of the more subtle psychological, psychiatric or neurological phenomena.  Referred to animal and lab studies that showed ultrasound may cause chromosomal damage, breakdown of DNA, etc.  There are others who sounded the warning that this was not a benign technology but these voices were crowded out for varied reasons like threats of litigation, loss of the traditions skills of birthing etc.

There were also Japanese studies that raised concerns about ultrasound. Weiss continued:

Unfortunately the use of ultrasound in obstetrics has not declined, despite safety concerns and the lack of research to rule out serious neurological effects.  It’s so entrenched in modern obstetrical practice.    Doctors use the machines to protect themselves from litigation – in the case of fetal abnormalities, undetected multiples, placenta previa, neurological or physical damage to the fetus during childbirth, stillbirth etc.  It has almost become a form of entertainment – you can get photos and videos of baby’s ultrasound.  It’s disturbing how benign it appears.

Within the context of the work I do, ultrasound is just one of many concerns I have with the over-management and medicalization of childbirth.  My clients come to me to find ways to subvert this within the hospital setting or to prepare for a home birth with a midwife.   I also get referrals from doctors whose patients are dealing with difficult issues while pregnant.

Caroline Rodgers, whose ideas I blogged about yesterday, wrote to me about lack of research on the possibility that prenatal ultrasound causes autism:

I have heard confidentially that applications for funding of prenatal ultrasound studies (not specifically investigating autism) have been repeatedly denied over the years — which helps explain the great paucity of safety studies, especially since the early ’90s, when the FDA approved an allowable eightfold increase in acoustic output. As recently as this year, funding was denied an ambitious, multi-site study that would have investigated if there was a relationship between ultrasound and autism.

In 2006 when Yale neuroscientist Pasko Rakic announced the results of his study that found prenatal ultrasound interrupted neuronal migration in mice in a way that was consistent with the brains of autopsied autistics, I was surprised that several scientists, including Rakic, did their best to downplay the results. At the time, Rakic was one of many of Autism Speaks’s scientific advisors.

I have spoken with various people throughout the NIH about my concerns [about ultrasound]. They all pointed to various large studies they believe are investigating ultrasound as a possible environmental cause of autism — most recently, the National Children’s Study and EARLI, but when I tracked down the study designs, it turned out that ultrasound is not being studied.

In a report at the time Rakic’s study was published, he indeed downplayed the results:

Dr. Pasko Rakic, chairman of the Yale department of neurobiology and leader of the study, was quick to offer parents reassurance about the safety of ultrasound — done for the proper reasons — in human pregnancies.

“If I had a daughter and she was pregnant, I would recommend she had it for medical reasons,” Rakic said.

Another researcher agreed:

“I couldn’t agree with him more,” said Dr. Joshua Copel, a professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at Yale and spokesman for the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG). He was not involved in the study. . .

The researchers noted that mice are very different from humans, so the results of their study must be interpreted with caution.

“The forms of migration [of brain cells] and the timing of migration differ in primates like humans than in mice,” Copel said. “In humans, there is a much longer period in which neurons [nerve cells] are migrating.”

Does that sound “very different”?