Autism is an epidemic in this country. There is no such thing as a genetic epidemic. One in 166 children goes on to be diagnosed with autism, including children in our own District. It is a lifelong affliction for the vast majority with many requiring constant care. However, some with autism are recovering with biomedical treatments.
We need to study the biomedical treatments that are working and develop other treatments to help.
The Combating Autism Act (S. 843) authorizes over $900 million for autism research and services, and would for the first time coordinate Federal efforts into autism research. It also provides the critical oversight needed to make sure NIH and other agencies help the most children in the fastest way possible.
We are asking for a very public commitment to move the Senate bill (S.843) in November. While we appreciate the need to move the larger NIH Reform bill, autism deserves special attention not expressed in that bill.
The CAA specifically addresses the link of autism to environmental factors (including vaccines and preservatives) that parents have wanted for so long. For the first time, we have the opportunity to get government dollars directed at this previously neglected area.
We wont rest until we get the help and research our children need and deserve.
If there is ever a time for politicians and advocacy groups to dictate autism research it is now since autism has not gotten the attention it deserves at NIH.
Combat Autism......
http://www.combatautism.org/site/c.adJCKONvFoG/b.1159505/k.BDF6/Home.htm Autism is an out-of-control epidemic in the U.S. and many other countries. Just fifteen years ago, autism was an extremely rare disorder, diagnosed in 1 of 10,000 children. Today, 1 in 166 children are afflicted, with boys 4 times more likely to develop autism than girls.
Autism is not solely caused by an incurable genetic defect, it must have a biological or environmental cause (and therefore a cure).
