Autism and Freeways?

Children born to mothers living close to freeways may have twice the risk of autism.
The Los Angeles Times (12/17, Roan) reports, "Children born to mothers who live close to freeways have twice the risk of autism," according to a study published online Dec. 16 in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. For the study, "researchers looked at 304 children with autism and, for comparison, 259 children who were developing normally." The youngsters lived in areas surrounding Los Angeles, Sacramento, and San Francisco. The investigators discovered that "children living about 1,000 feet from a freeway at birth -- about 10% of the sample -- had a two-fold increase in autism risk," which "held up even after researchers controlled for other factors that may influence development, such as ethnicity, parental education, maternal age and exposure to tobacco smoke."