SacMomsClub.com

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) -- Recent media reports have attributed a causal link between autism and a common antibacterial and anti-fungal agent called triclosan to researchers at the UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute. There is no evidence that triclosan is implicated in promoting autism and neither the M.I.N.D. Institute nor any researchers associated with the M.I.N.D. Institute have made this assertion.

The UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute is engaged in a variety of lines of inquiry into the causes of autism, among them the complex interplay between environmental factors and neurological development. Recent in vitro studies by M.I.N.D. Institute researchers and others have found that, while triclosan was previously believed to affect only bacterial cells, it also has diverse biological activities in mammalian cells.

Triclosan is in widespread use in a variety of commonplace household products, including detergents and soaps, and has been found to accumulate in the environment and in human tissue. While this is cause for concern, more research is needed to determine whether exposure to this chemical at the levels found in the U.S. population has any effect on human health.

The UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute is an internationally recognized research institute committed to the highest standards of scientific inquiry. M.I.N.D. Institute research is published in peer-reviewed scientific journals and, when appropriate, through news releases, on the M.I.N.D. Institute Web site, and through other standard channels of communication.

Any other reports, messages, positions, statements or other communications about M.I.N.D. Institute research not issued by the Institute should be regarded with the highest levels of suspicion.

The UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute, in Sacramento, Calif., was founded in 1998 as a unique interdisciplinary research center where parents, community leaders, researchers, clinicians and volunteers collaborate to study and treat autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders. More information about the institute is available on the Web at http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.ed....