The lines on the graph that shows the number of cases of children receiving special education support in the USA and the sales of organic food products between 1997 and 2009 are identical. For the nerds amongst us, it’s a correlation coefficient of 0.9971 with a p-value of 0.0001. It’s a scientist’s dream to find a relationship between two things as close as that. But do you really think it’s true? Do you really think that organically produced food causes learning difficulties among American children? No, it doesn’t. Something else behind the scenes is affecting both of these things.
There’s actually no evidence that levels of autism are increasing. What’s actually increasing is simply the diagnosis of autism. Doctors are now better educated and notice it more readily. They now have a diagnosis that they are willing to use instead of just calling a child “retarded” or “slow”. Autism has had its share of controversy. The internet is full of shameful, dangerous lies that suggest that autism is caused by things as varied as genetically modified food and vaccines. These are nothing more than lies.
