I'm certainly no expert but I have friends with an autistic child. He's now an adult.

This article seems like some more junk science to me. A screaming child is not very symptomatic of autism.
As far as lead poisoning goes, there is a heck of a lot less chance of a child getting lead poisoning than in the children of my generation.
Lead was in almost all painted products from woodwork at home, childrens furniture, cribs, everything including toy soldiers. It was everywhere. Yet the autism rates have increased only recently after years of removing lead from many products.

A few days ago there was an article on Plime that put forth the opinion that the ultra sound use during pregnancy was the culprit. Another claimed that vaccinations were the cause.

I guess the fact is we simply don't know why children become autistic. We may find out some day but we don't really have a clue right now.

I don't understand the point you are trying to make. Are you saying overseas toymakers should be held accountable for contamination, or that they should be held accountable for the increase in autism?

I think more research should be done in studying the effects that lead toys from China have had upon children in the United States.

I'm just surprised that there has not been more controversy over this...or maybe I just missed it...

And if a study showed there was no effects, would you still refer to them as 'negligent damn chinese?' I agree with you, a study would be great and would probably reduce alot of finger-pointing to China. Why is it just the Chinese manufacturers being deemed negligent? Why aren't there inspections upon import? If toys from China are so hazardous, why do adults continue to purchase them for their children? Is that not negligent as well? Don't get me wrong - I'm not condoning poor QC or allowing toys to be contaminated with lead, but I do think the accountability rests upon more people than just the Chinese manufacturers.

If there is a link between autism and lead poisoning or consumption, shouldn't autism have been more prevalent prior to the 1950's? Lead was used in paint and in canning (for food!) - children and adults alike would have been exposed to much more lead than is present in toys from China.

** I also changed the category to 'health', as there is no mention of a crime in the article.

If lead was truly a problem that caused autism I think that the autism rate would have been higher in past years than now. Not the opposite.

I would probably just say 'damn Chinese' and remove negligent.

Good points though. I think the toy manufacturers should definitely be called into account as well.

I'm wondering why you want to call this a 'crime' article? The article discusses misdiagnosing lead poisoning as autism. How is that a crime? This is definitely belongs in 'health', not 'crime'.

Because I wanted to ruffle your feathers.

Damn! Well..... mission accomplished?!?

I will proceed to unruffle.

Lead from chinese toys is a recent problem. Many of us grew up with good solid lead toys and lived off a diet consisting of lead-based paint chips.

Trying to tie autism to chinese products is wrong.