Autism is on the rise at an alarming rate. That increase coincides with the increase of mass production of meat, poultry, milk and eggs. There may be a connection, "We are what we eat." To raise thousands of animals in confined areas, some of the feed to start the young animals contains arsenic. Other daily feed given to all of them contains low levels of antibiotics and dewormer medicine in their water. Most dairy cows are given a synthetic bovine growth hormone (rBGH or rBST) to increase milk production. The manure from these facilities, CFO/CAFO, is then applied in either liquid or solid form to crop land. It still contains remnants of the arsenic, antibiotics, dewormer, pathogens, bacteria, you name it. It then enters the air through the spraying application and surface and ground water by runoff or leaching. Plants absorb what is in the ground. Remember the spinach and tomato scare? By law, these big producers of our food supply don't have to reveal what they have fed their livestock so the public doesn't know what they are truly eating, even in vegetables. Due to lobbying by the big food corporations, we may not know for years to come if there is a connection to autism, but there should be independent studies, not paid for by the food corporations.