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Children of Danish military mothers have higher odds of being diagnosed with autism compared to Danish children whose mothers were not in the military, according to a peer-reviewed study published Tuesday.
The authors of the study — one of whom has ties to a former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) scientist arraigned last week on federal fraud charges — speculated that the increased autism risk may stem from military members’ increased exposure to toxins, including artillery lead, exhaust fumes and industrial solvents.
The authors published their results in Occupational & Environmental Medicine, a BMJ journal.
Last year, scientists with Children’s Health Defense (CHD) found the same trend among children of U.S. service members. But when they submitted their manuscript to BMJ Military Health, the editor-in-chief rejected it in less than 24 hours.
Brian Hooker, Ph.D., CHD’s chief scientific officer, said it was “unfortunate” that The BMJ’s own journal on military health rejected CHD’s study on the increased autism rates among U.S. military children — especially given that The BMJ’s journal on occupational and environmental medicine published similar findings on children of Danish military members.
Hooker said:
“Given the myriad exposures military moms endure — including occupational ties to toxins in the air, food and water as well as medicines, including aggressive vaccination within the military and their families — urgent study is needed to better understand this effect. Toxins should be proactively removed from within the military complex.”
Rising autism rates in U.S. military kids warrant investigation ‘with all due haste’
Using U.S. Census Bureau data from 2016 to 2023, Hooker and CHD Senior Research Scientist Karl Jablonowski showed that military children had over 40% higher odds of being diagnosed with autism than non-military children.
Hooker and Jablonowski found that children of mothers with any military service were 46.19% more likely to be diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) than children whose mothers did not serve in the military.
Children of fathers with any service history were 42.74% more likely to have an ASD diagnosis than children of fathers with no military history.
“The severity of the results warrant an investigation, with all due haste,” they wrote in their report.
The Danish study authors found children whose mothers worked in the military had 59% increased odds of being diagnosed with autism. After statistically adjusting for sociodemographic factors, the odds increased to 74%.
The Danish study authors also found that children whose mothers worked in the transportation industry and certain high-stress occupations, such as judicial and public administration, had higher odds of receiving an autism diagnosis.
Danish study author is former CDC scientist with ties to Poul Thorsen
Although the Danish study authors called for more research on “specific toxicant exposures” that might contribute to an autism diagnosis, they made no mention of vaccines.
Jablonowski told The Defender it’s not surprising that the Danish study omitted any discussion of vaccines, given that one of its co-authors, Diana Schendel, Ph.D., is a scientist with a history of publishing research that denies the vaccine-autism link.
Schendel and Poul Thorsen, both former CDC scientists, were co-authors on a 2002 New England Journal of Medicine study that denied a link between the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism. Jablonowski and Hooker contend that the study was flawed.
Last week, Thorsen, a Danish native who worked for the CDC beginning in the late 1990s, was extradited to the U.S. from Germany to face charges of wire fraud and money laundering. He is being held without bail until trial.
“Schendel’s ties to Denmark, where Thorsen evaded these U.S. charges for 15 years prior to his capture in Germany, should be monitored very carefully,” Hooker said.
Thorsen is accused of redirecting over $1 million in CDC grant money earmarked for autism and public health research for his personal use, including buying a house, two cars and a motorcycle, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
According to emails CHD obtained via the Freedom of Information Act, Schendel sent inappropriate love messages to Thorsen while serving as his CDC supervisor during his alleged illegal activity.
“Schendel also approved Thorsen’s expenditures and served as his advocate, arguing for additional funds for Thorsen’s investigations,” Hooker said. “The DOJ investigation into Thorsen should also include Schendel’s activities at the CDC.”
Hooker also noted that Schendel holds a joint appointment between Drexel University and Aarhus University in Denmark. “Aarhus is the very same institution where Thorsen conducted his investigations while he allegedly funneled U.S. federal funds into his personal accounts at the CDC Federal Credit Union,” Hooker said.
Hooker said Schendel’s presence on the new autism paper is “completely unsettling given the extremely inappropriate relationship and financial ties she had with Poul Thorsen.”
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Pre-pregnancy environmental pollutants may increase autism risk, Danish study finds
Schendel and her co-authors examined data for 1,702 cases of autism in children born between 1973 and 2012 in Denmark.
They compared the children’s data to data from 108,532 children of the same sex and birth year who were not diagnosed with autism.
The authors looked at the employment histories of the children’s mothers using the Danish Pension Fund Registry. They found that mothers’ occupational history — even years before they became pregnant — appeared to be linked to the likelihood that their child would be diagnosed with autism.
According to the study report, “Bioaccumulation of environmental pollutants from pre-pregnancy to infancy may contribute to increased risk of neurodevelopmental disorders.”
For instance, some compounds can accumulate in the mother’s fat tissues and later recirculate in her body when she is pregnant or nursing.
The study’s corresponding author, Aisha S. Dickerson, Ph.D., told The Defender:
“The most important finding is that exposures people come in contact with many years before they become pregnant can potentially impact the brain development of their children.”
Related articles by The Defender
- Former CDC Autism Scientist Extradited to U.S. on Fraud, Money Laundering Charges
- ‘Ultimate Sacrifice’? Higher Rates of Autism Found in Kids Whose Parents Served in the Military
- RFK Jr.’s New Autism Advisers Set Sights on ‘Many Unanswered Questions’
- Scientists Publish ‘Map’ for How Aluminum in Vaccines Can Cause Brain Injury That Triggers Autism
- ‘Honesty at Last’: CDC Says ‘No Evidence’ to Support Claim that Vaccines Don’t Cause Autism
