St. Anthony’s School in Northvale, New Jersey which has an unusually high percentage of teachers giving birth to autistic children, will not receive the $50,000 in funding needed to look at this increased rate of autism.  From an article posted on NorthJersey.com

St. Anthony’s has housed a Northern Valley District program for children diagnosed with autism and other disorders for the last 30 years. The Walnut Street building is owned by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark.

According to a WCBStv.com report, the first study done to look at the rates of autism and other developmental concerns that children of St. Anthony’s staff face concluded that of the

24 current or former school employees who had children either while they worked at the school or since then. Their 42 offspring included 24 with developmental disorders — 10 with autism.

The school’s air quality has been tested and the classes have been moved from the main building but nothing conclusive has been determined.  This increased rate of autism spectrum disorders has given some boost to the environmental factors hypothesis that researchers are looking at when helping to determine the causes of autism.

Sources:

NorthJersey.com

WCBStv.com