Upload March 27, 2015Scientists now think 74 to 98 percent of the causes for autism are linked to genetics because of a new British study, reported BBC news. Victoria Countryman, a freshman majoring in biochemistry from Laie, said, “Genetics is probably. I don’t want to say what it comes down to, but it is definitely going to be a genetic thing, as opposed to food or vaccines.” The Medical Research Council of the King’s College London conducted the study using 258 twins. Of those 258 teenagers, 181 had autism. The risk of having autism was higher for the identical twins who share the exact same DNA, the report concluded. BBC says the researchers told JAMA Psychiatry hundreds of genes are involved, but they do not rule out environmental factors.According to Dr. Francesca Happe, “Some parents are concerned whether things like high pollution might be causing autism.” She said their “findings suggest environmental factors are smaller,” than previously thought. During Countryman’s Chemistry 106 class, taught by Professor Daniel Scott, she said she heard about the scare of the Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) vaccine specifically being linked to autism. A video displayed the battle of vaccinating young children. Countryman is “in favor of people being vaccinated.” The MMR vaccine is not linked to autism, according to BBC. Lancet, the medical journal that originally published the false study, the story says, issued a “full retraction of the paper.”Autism is a spectrum disorder, says Autism Speaks. It affects the way the brain processes information. The severity varies widely from person to person. One individual could function in normal society, while another may not even be able to speak. The social deficiency brought along with autism, said an article published by the University of Washington, can be traced to the hyperexcitability of the amygdala. The amygdala is associated with “the fight or flight response” and deals with processing new information. The over arousal of this area of the brain occurs when individuals suffering from autism look another person in the eye. At the same time, they typically have less activity going on in the amygdala at any given time when compared to an individual not suffering from the developmental disorder.
Writer: Max Betts
