What Environmental Factors Cause Autism? [2025 Update]
Scientists are still working to understand exactly how autism spectrum disorder (ASD or autism) develops in children. They believe a child’s environment and exposure to certain elements can disrupt their normal brain development and cause ASD. Recent studies have discovered links between ASD, pollution, and the heavy metals in baby foods.
In this article, we will explore the current scientific understanding of how environmental factors may cause ASD. We will also look at the legal options available for families whose children have developed ASD because of environmental exposures.
About Environmental Factors Causing Autism:
How Do Environmental Factors Contribute to Autism?
Common Environmental Risk Factors for Autism
Heavy Metals in Baby Food and Autism: What Parents Need to Know
Scientific Studies on Environmental Causes of Autism
Can You Reduce Your Child’s Risk of Autism from Environmental Factors?
King Law Is Accepting Environmental Autism Lawsuits
How Do Environmental Factors Contribute to Autism?
Many environmental factors can interrupt an infant’s or a fetus’s brain development and cause autism. For example, it is common knowledge that heavy metals like lead, mercury, arsenic, and aluminum are toxic to someone’s brain.
However, the public has only recently been told that some popular baby foods—like Gerber, Earth’s Best, and Parent’s Choice—are well over the allowable limit of heavy metals. Because of this, infants have been exposed to known neurotoxins in incredibly high quantities. Additionally, some environmental exposures can trigger or “switch on” different genes related to ASD, which may increase a child’s risk of developing autism.
Common Environmental Risk Factors for Autism
The public’s understanding of how factors in a young baby’s environment can change their brain development and lead them to develop autism has been increasing in recent years. Common factors that researchers are looking at include exposure to heavy metals, pesticides, and air pollution, as well as prenatal and maternal health.
Heavy Metals and Toxins
Heavy metals like lead, mercury, cadmium, and arsenic are known neurotoxins and can have a devastating impact on infants and young children. A 2014 research publication describes autism as a “form of lead and mercury neurotoxicity” and discusses how infants can be exposed to these substances in the womb and after birth. Scientists have also found that increased heavy metal exposure raises a child’s risk of having autism spectrum disorder. These heavy metals can be found in the child’s environment, including the homemade and commercial food they consume.
Pesticides and Agricultural Chemicals
The use of pesticides in a child’s environment has also been linked to a higher rate of autism spectrum disorder. For example, a study published in 2024 found that children in Spain who lived in areas of high pesticide use were 1.24 to 1.44 times more likely to have ASD than their peers who lived in low pesticide use regions. According to this study, young boys who lived in high pesticide use areas were over two times more likely than girls to develop autism. Many pesticides contain organophosphates—like glyphosate, which is an ingredient in Roundup—which can harm fetuses and infants.
Air Pollution and Traffic-Related Pollution
As early as 2013, researchers discovered that children who have been exposed to air pollutants were three times more likely to develop autism in their first year of life than their neurotypical peers. The primary culprits included nitrogen dioxide and some types of tiny particulate matter. Nitrogen dioxide is a harmful gas that is created when fuels—like diesel or gasoline—are burned. Particulate matter is small particles of dust and liquids—like the smoke and smog from the ozone and traffic—that can get into someone’s lungs and bloodstream.
Prenatal Health and Infections
Prenatal health and maternal infections have also been discussed as possible causes of autism. Maternal infections can increase inflammation and immune system responses, which can, in turn, disrupt how an infant develops in the womb. Many studies have suggested a relationship between an infant’s exposure to herpes simplex virus, rubella, measles, or mumps during or after birth and an infant experiencing developmental delays or having ASD.
Heavy Metals in Baby Food and Autism: What Parents Need to Know
In 2021, a Congressional Report revealed that major brands of commercial baby food sold products with dangerously high levels of heavy metals, like mercury, lead, inorganic arsenic, and cadmium. Infants and young children are at a higher risk of harmful effects of heavy metals because their bodies are still developing. Additionally, a baby’s small body means that the concentration of heavy metals in their system compared to their body weight is higher than for adults.
Heavy metal exposure has been linked to neurodevelopmental delays, lower IQ, and a higher rate of autism. Parents of children with ASD are suing baby food manufacturers—like Gerber, Heinz, and Plum Organics—for failing to reveal the amount of heavy metals in their products and warn parents about the toxic substances in these foods.
Scientific Studies on Environmental Causes of Autism
Many scientific studies have described possible environmental causes of autism, including air pollution, pesticides, and lead. Armed with this knowledge, some parents have taken legal action against baby food manufacturers for not protecting babies against the harmful impacts of heavy metals.
Harvard HSPH Study – Air Pollution and Autism
A groundbreaking 2021 study published by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health revealed a 64 percent increase in a child’s autism risk if they were exposed to certain levels of air pollution—like ambient (in the air) particulate matter—during early childhood. The air pollution the researchers looked at contains tiny particles that are 2.5 micrometers or less. The study’s authors also discovered that children who were exposed to increased levels of air pollution during their third trimester were 31 percent more likely to have autism.
UC Davis CHARGE Study – Pesticides and ASD
UC Davis launched the Childhood Autism Risks from Genetics and the Environment (CHARGE) Study in 2003 to examine how genes and environmental exposure can interact to increase the chance of an ASD diagnosis. According to their findings, women who lived within two miles of fields sprayed with organophosphates—like Roundup—were 60 percent more likely to have a child diagnosed with autism.
NIH-Funded Baby Teeth Study – Heavy Metals and Autism
A 2017 study funded by the National Institute of Health shed light on heavy metals and autism. The research article, which was published in Nature Communications, discovered that children with autism had a higher concentration of lead in their baby teeth compared to their neurotypical peers. The authors noted that this relationship was significant between 10 weeks before birth and 30 weeks after birth.
Can You Reduce Your Child’s Risk of Autism from Environmental Factors?
Parents and pregnant women can take many different steps to help limit their child’s exposure to environmental causes of autism. For example, parents may benefit from selecting baby food that has a lower content of heavy metals and feeding their babies a wide variety of food. Parents can also spend more time in forest preserves and parks away from high-traffic regions and use air purifiers to help limit their children’s exposure to air pollution.
Caregivers can also try to limit or steer clear of foods on the Dirty Dozen list, which studies have found to have a higher amount of pesticide residue than other produce. Strong water filtration systems can also help parents make sure the water they are giving their young children or using to prepare their food is free of as many toxins, like lead, as possible.
King Law Is Accepting Environmental Autism Lawsuits
Parents may be able to file a lawsuit if they believe heavy metals in their child’s food caused their children to develop autism. Many other parents and advocates have filed claims against baby food manufacturers to hold them accountable for the harm they caused to infants and children. Compensation that may be available to parents includes expenses for therapy, medical care, tutoring, and other related damages.
Contact an Environmental Autism Lawyer Today
If your child has autism, and you believe their food may have caused it, get in touch with us to schedule a free case evaluation. You can reach us by calling (585) 496-2648 or submitting an online form. Our lawyers do not charge any upfront cost to handle environmental autism cases, and we do not receive any legal fees unless we win your lawsuit and you receive a payout.