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  University of California, Davis
  1120B Haring Hall
  Davis, California, 95616
  530.754.8157 - phone
  530.752.3761 - fax
  rlmorrison@ucdavis.edu


Pyrethrin Chemicals in Pet Shampoo May Increase Autism Risk - See our article in The Times - May 2008

Interview with Dr. David Amaral, Research Director, about the Autism Phenome Project on Autism One Radio (requires Windows Media Player) - May 2008

In Good Hands--Center Investigators Sally Ozonoff and Sally Rogers in Sacramento Magazine - April 2008

From the Los Angeles Times - UC Davis Study shows vaccine-autism link unlikely. Infants are shown to rapidly metabolize the type of mercury used in the preservative thimerosal, still widely used in vaccines around the world - January 2008

Read our latest research papers

View a list of our recent presentations

Mission

The Center for Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention is a multi-disciplinary collaborative research organization established to examine how toxic chemicals may influence the development of autism in children. The Center's goal is to contribute knowledge about autism that will lead to new strategies for the prevention and treatment of this mysterious condition.

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that typically affects a person's ability to communicate, form relationships with others, and respond appropriately to their environment. Autistic children are limited in their social interactions, often locking into repetitive behaviors and rigid patterns of thinking.

Parents and health professionals have raised concerns about how environmental factors such as pesticides, a variety of chemicals, or even some ingredients included in vaccines may effect the development of the disorder. We are the first center to examine the roles of a wide range of toxic chemicals, genetic predisposition, and the interplay between these two in altering brain development during early life and leading to abnormal social behavior in children.

To learn more about the NIEHS/EPA Centers for Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research program, please click on the following links: U.S. EPA Children's Centers website (http://www.epa.gov/cehc) and NIEHS Children's Center website: (http://www.niehs.nih.gov/translat/children/children.htm).


Center Directors

Isaac Pessah, Ph.D., Director - Center for Children's Environmental Health
Irva Hertz-Picciotto, Ph.D., Deputy Director - Center for Children's Environmental Health
David Amaral, Ph.D., Research Director - UC Davis MIND Institute
This center is funded by U.S. EPA Grants #R829388 and #R833292 and NIEHS Grant #2P01ES011269.

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