Catastrophic Autism Rate Now 1 in 88, 1 in 54 Boys

Posted on: 03-29-2012 Posted in: Media

“When will the federal health authorities wake up? Will it be 1 in 25? One in 10? How many children have to suffer from autism to call this an emergency?”

The Elizabeth Birth Center for Autism Law and Advocacy joins a Coalition of Autism Groups Calling a Press Conference on World Autism Day to Blast HHS’ Ongoing Failures

What Can You Do?

If you are frustrated by the CDC’s complete lack of concern over almost 2% of our boys being affected by autism, take action now!

Go to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform’s Facebook page to post about your personal concerns and call for hearings on the autism epidemic.

We want the U.S. House of Representatives Government Reform Committee to initiate promised hearings as soon as possible on the failure of federal health agencies in appropriately responding to the autism epidemic. It has been ten years since this Committee examined the role of the federal authorities in the autism epidemic.

We also want Chairman Darrell Issa to ask for a GAO Report on autism research funding. The Government Accounting Office should initiate a study of past research funding that has ignored environmental causes. We need to understand whether this was the result of lobbying to avoid possible liability that might be uncovered with examination of environmental triggers.

New York, NY, March 30, 2012 – Grassroots autism advocacy organizations representing more than 100,000 autism families will hold a press conference Monday, April 2, 2012, World Autism Day, at 11 a.m. at Hilton Manhattan East, 304 East 42nd St., to push for official recognition of autism as a national public health emergency and to analyze the federal health authorities’ ongoing failure to respond. [Click here to watch live.]

Today the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced new prevalence rates among 8 year olds from 2008 as 1 in 88 children and 1 in 54 boys. “These numbers are staggering,” said Katie Wright, daughter of Autism Speaks co-founders Bob and Suzanne Wright and board member of the National Autism Association. “When will the federal health authorities wake up? Will it be 1 in 25? One in 10? How many children have to suffer from autism to call this an emergency?”

Recent research from Stanford University conclusively shows that environmental triggers account for most cases of autism, not genetic predisposition. “Parents have been calling on the NIH to study environmental factors for decades, but almost all the money has gone into genetic studies. No matter how high the autism rate soars, the CDC’s continued denial of an autism epidemic is certitude comparable to death and taxes,” said Mark Blaxill, Editor-at-Large of Age of Autism online newspaper.

These advocacy groups believe that ongoing government research appears to be driven by corporations that fear being implicated in any environmental relationship with the autism epidemic and that these apparent conflicts of interest must be exposed.

The organizations call for three urgent action steps:

Secretary Sebelius should declare a national health emergency and order the NIH and CDC to shift their research focus to prevention efforts, especially investigation of long overlooked environmental factors.
The Government Accounting Office should initiate a study of past research funding that has ignored environmental causes. We need to understand whether this was the result of lobbying to avoid possible liability that might be uncovered with examination of environmental triggers.
The U.S. House of Representatives Government Reform Committee should initiate promised hearings as soon as possible on the failure of federal health agencies in appropriately responding to this epidemic. It has been about ten years since this Committee examined the role of the federal authorities in the autism epidemic. We can think of no other instance of any comparable epidemic that has gone on so long without Congressional oversight.

Grassroots organizations represented at the press conference: Age of Autism, AutismOne, Autism Action Network, Autism File USA, Autism Trust USA, The Canary Party, Center for Personal Rights, Citizens for Health, The Coalition for Safe Minds, Elizabeth Birt Center for Autism Law and Advocacy, Focus Autism, Generation Rescue, National Autism Association, Talk About Curing Autism