Government Begins Three Autism Studies

The National Institute of Mental Health is set to being three major clinical studies on autism at its National Institutes of Health campus in Bethesda, Md.

One study will focus on the differences — both biological and behavioral — between regressive autism in children who appear to develop normal language and social skills but then lose them before age 3 and non-regressive autism, the more common form of the disorder, which begins early in life, possibly before birth, with evidence of subtle deficits throughout development. The researchers will also study a subset of the children in this study to investigate environmental factors that may trigger symptoms of autism.

The second study will examine the use of the antibiotic minocycline to measure its usefulness in treating regressive autism. The drug has been helpful in other brain disorders such as Huntington’s disease.

The third study seeks to address the widespread theory that autism may be treated successfully by chelation therapy, which seeks to remove heavy metals from the blood.

Chelation is more commonly used to treat lead toxicity, but currently, many families seek the treatment to try to remove mercury and other metals from their autistic children’s blood, based on the belief that autism is caused by exposure to thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative previously used in childhood vaccines.