Another "Cause" of Autism Is Trotted Out

Now that vaccines, mercury, "cold" parents, and abnormal intestines have been exonerated by careful research, as the cause of Autism, we have a new claim that neonatal jaundice can cause it. Unfortunately, this study resembles the MMR travesty in UK years ago, that we still haven't recovered from. Poorly controlled, no verification of diagnosis, and low sample numbers put this study in doubt.

More importantly, this is counter-intuitive. Almost all newborn babies have some degree of jaundice in the first 48-72 hours of life and variable parameters such as duration of pregnancy and birthweight are known to affect the brain's susceptibility to harm from jaundice. The mere fact that premature infants, who have the highest incidence and highest levels of jaundice due to their physiological immaturity, DO NOT have a higher incidence of Autism is common sense "proof" that this claim is questionable.