Researchers find a surprising link between certain pollutants and reduced autism risk, the world welcomes — and fears — the first primate clones, and new U.S. clinical trial rules reverberate globally.
The investigators measured concentrations of the pollutants, called perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, in blood samples taken during pregnancy from the mothers of 1,155 children. Levels of the pollutants in women with children on the spectrum or with intellectual disability were similar to or lower than those of women with neurotypical children.
The inverse link is particularly strong with the two chemicals that occur at the highest concentrations in people, the researchers said. They suggest that some other variable they didn’t measure might have influenced the results.
The hopes hinge on research applications, because among animal models, these monkeys are our closest relatives. The concerns relate to creating a gateway primate to a cloned human.
“There is no intention for us to apply this method in humans,” Mu-Ming Poo, one of the investigators on the project, told the newspaper. Poo and his colleagues note in their report that their success paves the way toward developing genetically identical animals for studies. Macaques are a popular choice of animal model for autism researchers.
The problem is “endemic to animal research,” Godlee writes. Commentators call for “a cultural change in which researchers are rewarded for producing valid and reproducible results that are relevant to patients, and for doing justice to the animals being used.”
The changes call for researchers to jump through a number of bureaucratic hoops for studies that previously did not require them. Investigators who work in behavioral sciences may find their work suddenly considered ‘clinical’ under the new definition of that term, meaning that they have to follow registration and reporting requirements for clinical trials.
