Features: Ultrasound scanning of foetus may damage the brain, and is possibly the primary cause of autism

Posted : Apr, 2007

Ultrasound scanning of foetus may damage the brain, and is possibly the primary cause of autism

Ultrasound scan of unborn babies may damage the brain, causing more harm than good

The human brain undergoes critical development until relatively late in pregnancy, making it vulnerable to damage by external disturbances.

The human embryonic stem cells undergo rapid multiplication and develop into various types of cells in the body.

The DNA stored in the cell nucleus contains genetic information that controls the development and functioning of the cell. The DNA exists in the form of two long intertwining strands called double helix.

Ring-shaped Protein Structures in the DNA Helix

The DNA helix is made up of a series of complex ring-shaped protein structures. These structures are held together by numerous delicate bonds, which can be broken by external influences such as oxidizing agents and electromagnetic radiations.

The outer layer of gray matter in the brain is responsible for complex functions such as memory, attention, thinking, language and consciousness. Brain cells in mice failed to migrate to their proper positions in the gray matter after prolonged exposure to ultrasound.

Photo: Nerve cells (neurons) in the gray matter. Each neuron is composed of a cell body (called soma) with its nucleus, numerous dendrites (branch-like extensions), and an axon. The axon is a long cable-like extension for transmitting nervous signals to and from other nerve cells.

Neurons are produced in specific places in the brain and then migrate to their correct positions in the gray matter.

The white matter in human brain normally does not contain neurons.

Is obstetric ultrasound scanning a primary cause of autism? Recent research showed that autistic people have abnormal brain cell connections and numerous minor gene damages. Coincidentally, it was found in studies that ultrasound scanning may result in wrong locations of brain cells.

All things unnatural are by definition harmful

Nature has its own rules. But in modern societies, "Safe" is quite often defined as "Harmful effects not yet found". It's just due to the limitation of man's knowledge that we assume the unnatural things as being safe.

Stop ultrasound scanning on foetus to avoid further injuries

Nature has its own timing. When it's not yet ready to see how the baby looks, it's not yet ready. Stop ultrasound scanning on foetus to avoid further injuries.

Ultrasound scan has been abused as a murder weapon, killing tens of thousands, if not millions, of babies each year.

As indicated by a few recent studies, the routine procedure of scanning unborn babies with ultrasound is doing more harm than good.

	A research in the US showed that ultrasound scanning would damage the brain cells in laboratory mice, causing them to move to the wrong place during development.

	In a Swedish study, people who were scanned in the womb had 32% higher rate of left-handedness, probably caused by subtle brain damage in the womb. Such brain damage has been linked to psychological conditions ranging from dyslexia to epilepsy.

	A Canadian research suggested that ultrasound scan during pregnancy is linked to delayed speech in children.

	New Hypothesis: Ultrasound scan may be the primary cause of autism. The abnormal brain cells connections and numerous minor gene damages found in autistic people may be related to foetal ultrasound scanning.

What is ultrasound scan

Ultrasound is a form of high energy sound waves, with frequencies beyond the normal hearing range of human beings. Even at low levels, ultrasound can produce physical effects in body tissues, such as jarring vibrations and a rise in temperature.

Ultrasound scanning is a common diagnostic medical procedure used to produce dynamic images (also called sonograms) of organs, tissue, or blood flow inside the body. The process involves 3 steps:

	High frequency sound waves are sent into the body by a machine called transducer.

	As the sound waves are bounced off the internal structures of the body, the echoes formed are detected.

	The echoes are converted to electric impulses, which are processed to form an image displayed on a computer monitor.

Why ultrasound scan is used

Ultrasound scanning has been widely applied in prenatal examination of pregnant women since the 1960s. It has been regarded as a standard procedure to detect the size, location, number, age and gender of foetus. It can also reveal some types of birth defects, foetal movement, breathing and heartbeat.

At higher exposure levels, given daily for weeks in certain cases, ultrasound is used to speed up the healing of bone fractures. At even higher levels, ultrasound is used in the treatment of sprains and pulled muscles by producing a heating effect in the body tissues.

Research Details on the Potential Harm of Ultrasound Scanning

1. Ultrasound scan damages the brain of laboratory mice

In a research conducted by the Yale University in the US, pregnant mice on the 16th day of gestation (the last week) were exposed to multiple sessions of ultrasound scan. This is the period in which the brain cells (called neurons) of the foetus migrate to their proper position in the brain's outer layers. The total time of exposure for each mouse ranged from 5 to 420 minutes.

The key findings were: (Related News: Aug 12, 2006)

	For mice with ultrasound exposure for a total of 30 minutes or more, they had a significant number of neurons improperly embedded in the inner layers of white matter instead of migrating to the correct position in the brain's outer layers of gray matter (also called cerebral cortex).

	The longer the total time of ultrasound exposure, the higher was the number of misplaced neurons in the born mouse.

The corresponding neurons in the human brain are formed around the 16th week and continue to migrate for at least 1 to 2 weeks. And the brain development in human foetus continues till quite late into pregnancy.

The human cerebral cortex is around 2 to 4 mm (0.08 - 0.16 inches) thick. It is responsible for many complex brain functions, including memory, attention, perceptual awareness, thinking, language and consciousness. The failure of the brain cells to migrate to proper positions in the cerebral cortex would have significant impact on these important functions.

2. Left-handedness due to subtle brain damages from ultrasound scan

In a Swedish research, scientists studied the rate of left-handedness among 7,000 men whose mothers underwent ultrasound scanning in the 1970s. The results were compared with 170,000 men whose mothers did not. The key findings were:

	Those men whose mothers had ultrasound scans were significantly more likely to be left-handed than normal, pointing to a higher rate of brain damage while in the womb.

	The biggest difference was found among those born after 1975, when doctors introduced a second scan later in pregnancy. Such men were 32% more likely to be left-handed than those in the control group.

Normally, left-handedness is genetic: The likelihood of two left-handed parents having a left-handed child is 35%, while for two right-handed parents, it is only 9%. But left-handedness may also be caused by subtle brain damage in the womb, which has been linked to conditions ranging from dyslexia to epilepsy.

The brain of human embryo undergoes critical development until relatively late in pregnancy, making it vulnerable to damage. In addition, the male brain is especially at risk, as it continues to develop later than the female brain.

In Britain, the rate of left-handedness has more than doubled, from 5% in the 1920s to 11% in 2001. Researchers have estimated that only 20% of this rise can be attributed to the suppression of left-handedness among the older generation. The findings in the Swedish research may partly explain the remaining increase.

The report of this research was published in the journal Epidemiology. (Related News: Dec 10, 2001)

3. Association between ultrasound scan and delayed speech

Researchers in the University of Calgary in Canada studied the association between prenatal ultrasound exposure and delayed speech in 72 children aged 24 to 100 months. These children were found to have delayed speech of unknown cause by a speech-language pathologist. The findings for each kid were compared with two control subjects matched for sex, date of birth, sibling birth order and associated health problems.

It was found that the children with delayed speech had a higher rate of ultrasound exposure than the control subjects. A child with delayed speech was about twice as likely as a child without delayed speech to have been exposed to prenatal ultrasound waves.

The research report was published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (Nov 15, 1993 issue). (Related web page)

Clues to the abnormal brain cell connections and numerous minor gene damages in autistic kids

What is Autism

Autism is a spectrum of developmental disorders diagnosed among kids as young as 2 or 3 years old. It is the most common developmental disorder in the United States, affecting around one in every 150 children (Source).

Autism is characterized by an inability to communicate and interact with other people, and poor language or handwriting capabilities. Those afflicted typically have a restricted range of activities and interests. They also have difficulties in handling more complex tasks, suggesting that many areas of the brain were affected. (Related web page: Autism affects all of the brain)

Abnormal brain cell connections and numerous minor gene damages in autistic people

Scientists in the US found that people with autism have abnormal brain cell connections, with too many in certain areas and too few in other parts. This results in poor internal communication between various parts of the brain. This may explain some of the behavioural symptoms shown by the patients. (Related News in Oct 2006: BBC, Press Release from University of Washington)

Some post-mortem studies also suggested impairments in communication at the level of individual brain cells for autistic people. Interestingly, the research findings by the Yale University on foetal ultrasound found that it caused the neurons in mice to migrate to wrong positions. Would it be possible that ultrasound is the primary cause of abnormal brain cell connections and malfunctioning neurons in autistic people? Further research is required to find out. (Related article on the web site of Autism Speaks)

In March 2007, a research team reported their findings that autism may involve minor damage in as many as 100 different genes. These damages are not typical genetic mutations, but are called copy number variations - with extra copies or missing fragments of DNA. The genetic glitches are unique to each autistic kid, and do not have similar occurrence among the family members.

This research was conducted by the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York and colleagues across the US, in Finland and in Britain. The results were published in the journal Science (Mar 16, 2007 issue) (Related News: Mar 15, 2007)

Possible causes of autism

Previously, it was suggested that the possible causes of autism include mercury poisoning (e.g. in older vaccines), other industrial and chemical pollutants, food or water contamination, and exposure to background electromagnetic waves (e.g. long range radio waves). However, all these factors are not likely to be the primary cause of autism, though they may worsen the situation of autistic people.

New Hypothesis on Ultrasound Scanning as the Primary Cause of Autism :

Ultrasound scan would result in multiple fragmentation of the DNA. Minor errors occur in the natural repairing process of the damaged DNA, resulting in copy variations of gene segments. As a result, some neurons fail to move to the correct positions, leading to inability of the brain to function properly.

Ultrasound scan is equivalent to invisible stones thrown all over the foetus. Some of the ultrasound is reflected back as echoes, while the remaining energy is absorbed by the tissue of the body.

The energy impact of the ultrasound waves on the foetus may be comparable to a car crash experienced by an adult. The victims of car crash with no physical injuries may actually have suffered multiple bone fractures and severe internal bleeding. The havoc is caused by the force of collision absorbed by the body.

The difference in an ultrasound scan from throwing real stones at the foetus is that the "stones" can pass through all the tissue of the foetus, causing possible changes in the cell content and even broken links at the gene level of the cell nucleus.

When the damaged DNA tries to repair itself by recombining the broken fragments, minor glitches may occur here and there - such as duplicated or missing DNA fragments. As a result, some neurons fail to migrate to the proper positions in the gray matter, leading to poor communication between different parts of the brain. Damages in the cell content outside the nucleus (called cytoplasm) may also lead to improper functioning of neurons in transmitting nervous signals.

The above reasoning on damaged genes and neurons in autistic people seems to be consistent with the research results on ultrasound scanning in recent years. More research is required to verify its validity.

Nature has its own timing - Be More Patient

In case a blind person said he cannot see how you look, and would like to throw stones all over your body. Judging from the sound how the stones are bounced back from your bodies, he can visualize roughly your shape and features. What would be your response? You probably would say he is crazy. However, we are doing exactly such an absurd thing to the fragile foetus in an ultrasound scan.

The developing foetus is extremely fragile and sensitive to any external influences. No one knows the exact effects of ultrasound waves on the embryo. The reason used by the medical community to justify to usage of ultrasound scan on foetus is that the amount of energy involved is very small, therefore theoretically, it should be fine.

However, how small is small? No one knows what is the amount of energy required to break the delicate bondings in DNA, or that amount required to trigger changes in the cytoplasm of neurons. Even at the pure conceptual level, it is extremely cruel and inhumane to subject the developing foetus to such unnatural disturbances as ultrasound.

Nature has its own timing. When it's not yet ready to see how the baby looks, it's not yet ready. We should not do so by forceful means, especially when our knowledge on the pertinent impact of ultrasound scan on foetus is so limited.

Nature has its own rules. All things unnatural are by definition harmful. In modern society, "Safe" is quite often defined as "Harmful effects not yet found". It's just due to the limitation of man's knowledge that we assume the unnatural things as being safe.

That's why we have all sorts of safety limits for even the well-known contaminants and carcinogens widely found in food and water supplies. This gives the consumers a false sense of security, and is a vivid example of the ostrich-style behaviour of mankind. Other examples include widespread adoption of wireless devices, wireless internet access, seedless fruits and other genetically modified food.

Routine ultrasound scanning on foetus should be stopped immediately to avoid further unnecessary injuries

The standard prenatal checking nowadays involves two rounds of ultrasound scanning. In case the above hypothesis is correct, each baby has to undergo two times of “car crash” before birth. Even for the babies regarded as normal after birth, their genes and neurons may have already suffered certain levels of damages.

These damages would be accumulative and amplified over a few generations, and then show up as noticeable symptoms one day. The resulting catastrophic impact on the quality of the human gene pool is horrifying.

Based on our feel of wind, we know where the wind is from and where it is going. All the evidence we have from the research findings points to the direction that obstetric ultrasound scanning is the most likely primary cause of autism.

In the same way that it is difficult to let you see the wind to prove its existence, it is very difficult to have concrete scientific proof that autism is caused by ultrasound, because it is impossible to take human foetus for experiment with ultrasound. Any additional laboratory testing on animals, or epidemiological studies based on statistical data could at most add more supporting evidence for the association between the two.

In light of the devastating impact of autism to the patient, their family members, and the society as a whole, we should stop routine ultrasound scanning on foetus immediately to avoid further unnecessary injuries, until we can prove that this medical procedure has no relation at all to autism or other psychological disorders. We should not continue to wait for an unknown number of years for more non-definitive research results, before we take any pertinent preventive actions.

Ultrasound scanning is the most deadly killing agent on babies, and makes countless women facing miserable treatment

There is no available statistics on how many abnormal babies were saved after being diagnosed with ultrasound scan in the womb. But we do know that hundreds of thousands of unborn baby girls, if not in the millions, in China and India are killed each year by forced abortion, soon after their gender are uncovered from ultrasound scanning. Many more fetal homicides are happening around us in other parts of the world.

This makes ultrasound scanning the most deadly killing agent on babies worldwide. The gender ratio in both China and India is in serious imbalance, leading to a lot of social problems such as prostitution, sexual violence, wife sharing, abduction and trafficking of women. Can we turn our eyes blind towards the mishaps faced by countless women worldwide?

In China, according to the official figures, there are around 119 boys for 100 girls in 2007, compared with 110 boys to 100 girls in 2000. In some regions, the figure has reached 130 newborn boys for every 100 girls. By 2020, China will have 30 million more men of marriageable age than women. (Related News: Jan. 12, 2007) (Note: The actual gender gap in China is likely to be much larger than the official figures above. The world average figure is 106 boys for 100 girls).