Autism, Brain, and Environment

Commended in the 2007 BMA Medical Book Competition, Popular Medicine category

"His book is a clearly and accessibly written account of his proposal that environmental poisons, including heavy metals, interact with genetic vulnerability to cause damage to the limbic brain system...resulting in autism...This is, overall, a scholarly book providing a possible explanation of autism. It will be of interest to parents as well as professionals."
- Nature

The increasing number of people being diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) cannot simply be explained by changes in diagnostic criteria or greater awareness of the condition. In this controversial new book, Richard Lathe contends that the recent rise in cases of ASDs is a result of increased exposure to environmental toxicity combined with genetic predisposition.

Autism, Brain, and Environment proposes that autism is a disorder of the limbic brain, which is damaged by toxic heavy metals present in the environment. Lathe argues that most ASD children have additional physiological problems and that these, far from being separate from the psychiatric aspects of ASD, can produce and exacerbate the condition.

This important and groundbreaking text provides a closely-argued scientific case for the involvement of both environmental and physiological factors in autism. Lathe's argument will also have a direct impact on treatment strategies and options. It will be of great interest to the scientific community, professionals, researchers, political and environmental lobbyists, teachers, psychologists, and parents and people with ASDs.