The first three children exhibiting autism were "a child from Forest, Mississippi, the son of a plant pathologist, and the son of a forestry professor in a southern University (Olmsted)."
The most famous first child with autism was Donald from Forest, Mississippi. In their book The Age of Autism, Dan Olmsted and Mark Blaxill talk about a new product Lignasan that was used to treat pine. One of the ingredients in Lignasan was ethylmercury.
While the authors don't prove it was a cause, one company known to partake in the use of Lignasan was the firm Eastman-Gardiner. They butted up against another lumber company who used the chemical. This company operated in Forest, Mississippi. When Donald's parents built their house, they most likely used wood from either mill to build their home. Of course, the authors are saying mercury causes autism, and that's not important here. What is important is as this product wore down it realized ethylmercury into the air. So the house was literally breathing out mercury, which the inhabitants would have been breathing. So while i probably isn't the cause of autism or more direct, this isn't the amazing part to me. I find it amazing that a firm from Clinton, Iowa moved to Laurel, Mississippi and employed a toxic chemical that 80 years later would be connected to the autism debate.
The history of the Gardiner interests is a huge undertaking. The Gardiners went from working in the Lamb mills to owning their own to moving south. In the South, they operated one of the nation's largest mills and completely transformed the town of Laurel, Mississippi. They also invested in mineral rights and oil rights in the South. I doubt they would have foreseen becoming a minor footnote in the history of autism.
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