--- title: Autism Linked to Environmental Toxins in Large Study description: A new study offers strong evidence that environmental toxins play a role in the disorder. The report looked at birth defects associated with parental exposure to pollution and found a 1% increase in the defects corresponded to a 283% increase in autism canonical: https://time.com/25424/growing-evidence-that-autism-is-linked-to-pollution/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-03-14T19:52:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:01:33.474Z article:section: Health og:title: Study links pollution to autism og:description: A new study offers strong evidence that environmental toxins play a role in the disorder. The report looked at birth defects associated with parental exposure to pollution and found a 1% increase in the defects corresponded to a 283% increase in autism og:url: https://time.com/25424/growing-evidence-that-autism-is-linked-to-pollution/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Study links pollution to autism twitter:description: A new study offers strong evidence that environmental toxins play a role in the disorder. The report looked at birth defects associated with parental exposure to pollution and found a 1% increase in the defects corresponded to a 283% increase in autism twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Growing Evidence That Autism Is Linked to Pollution > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Health Matters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Health Matters is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The latest health news and expert advice on living well. Health Matters makes the fast-moving world of health more useful, surprising and human, from the latest science and medical breakthroughs to practical ideas for living better. 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It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ## Video: How Ballet Can Help Kids with Autism [Watch (HLS stream): How Ballet Can Help Kids with Autism](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/303QRlAL.m3u8) (2:39)  _Published 2011-07-12. Bonnie Schlachte started Ballet For All Kids to offer children on the Autism spectrum a chance to dance, have fun and work with others_ by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Mar 14, 2014 7:52 PM UTC by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Mar 14, 2014 7:52 PM UTC Several studies have shown a link between air pollution and autism, but a new study published in the journal _PLOS Computational Biology_ is one of the largest to put the two together. Researchers studied insurance claims from around 100 million people in the U.S., and used congenital malformations in boys as an indictor for parental exposure to environmental toxins. “Autism appears to be strongly correlated with rate of congenital malformations of the genitals in males across the country. This gives an indicator of environmental load and the effect is surprisingly strong,” study author Andrey Rzhetsky from the University of Chicago said in a statement. Every 1% increase in malformations corresponded to a 283% increase in autism in the same county. Although the findings are still new, the researchers say they offer support for the theory that environmental pollutants, in addition to genetics, play a role in autism development. ## Transcript Ready? [ MUSIC ] A lot of kids with autism, they're trying communicate something. And they have all this stuff inside. And they don't know how to express it. My job's to make sure that they can express it. Oh so excellent. Ballet for all Kids is a very inclusive program that really is what the name says, it's ballet for all kids. My classes include kids of all abilities and disabilities. But the largest majority of my children are on the autism spectrum. [ INAUDIBLE ] or [ NOISE ] big steps. When I first came up with the idea of doing a my class. The more I did research the more I realised what an incredible match, Sally is for children on moto inspection. It's very ritualistic, there's comfort in knowing the routine, it really helps lessen a lot of their anxiety, because, they're just in their routine. [ MUSIC ] Up. When I'm here, I'm not a therapist. I'm a ballet teacher. And when they're here, they don't have disabilities, they're kids. Very nice. I have one girl in my club. When I first got her, it was, it was tough for her to, to be in class, you know? I really just worked on her staying in her square and facing the mirror. I mean that's pretty much what I worked on for the first, probably, three months. Over the years, it's amazing to watch how, hard she's working to be here and to complete the technique and, she, she's amazing. She's amazing. My philosophy is, I try not to refuse any children. Because if a child, especially if a child with special needs, is showing interest in ballet. I'm gonna bend over backwards to make sure that they can experience that. Because I know how incredible ballet was in my life growing up, and want to make sure that those kids get that same experience. [ SOUND ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/25424/growing-evidence-that-autism-is-linked-to-pollution/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/25424/growing-evidence-that-autism-is-linked-to-pollution/"},"headline":"Growing Evidence That Autism Is Linked to Pollution","datePublished":"2014-03-14T19:52:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:01:33.474Z","description":"A new study offers strong evidence that environmental toxins play a role in the disorder. 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