For pregnant women, exposure to heavy traffic pollution could lead to a higher risk of having an autistic baby.
UCLA researchers point to the link between traffic pollution and autism in a largest study of this kind.
The team compared pollution exposure levels of 7600 autistic children born between 1995 and 2006 with the same number of children without autism and found women exposed to heavy pollution have a 10 percent increase in the risk of having an autistic baby.
“That means, if you have ten children and you are exposed to traffic toxic, the eleventh child may get autism,” Dr. Beate Ritz explains.
