More children coming down with autism.

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300,000 Children in U.S. Found to Have Autism By Shankar VedantamWashington Post Staff WriterFriday, May 5, 2006; Page A09 About 300,000 American children have been diagnosed as having autism, according to the first comprehensive national surveys of the developmental disorder. Boys were four times more likely than girls to have the disorder, which is characterized by verbal, social and emotional problems. White families with higher incomes were also more likely to report having children with the disorder, a fact that federal experts said probably reflected unequal access to medical services. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/04/AR2006050401724.html New autism estimate is 5.5 out of 1,000 Posted 5/4/2006 12:10 PM ET E-mail | Save | Print | Subscribe to stories like this ATLANTA (AP) — About 300,000 U.S. children have been diagnosed with autism, according to the largest national study so far of the prevalence of this complex behavioral

disorder. That means about 5.5 out of every 1,000 school-age children have been diagnosed with autism. Past estimates have ranged from 1 to 9 out of every 1,000 children, based on smaller studies in individual states or cities. The government-run study released Thursday reports findings from national surveys of tens of thousands of families. The study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also found boys are nearly four times more likely than girls to be identified with the condition. And it found Hispanics had lower autism rates, though it's possible that may be related to health care access problems. "There's somewhat of a dearth of information how autism impacts children and their families," said lead author Laura Schieve, an epidemiologist with the CDC. Because of its

national scope, the CDC report "is probably one of the best" studies of how often autism is diagnosed, said Dr. Eric Hollander, an autism expert at New York's Mount Sinai School of Medicine. The study does not attempt to answer whether autism is increasing — a controversial topic, driven in part by a debate over whether autism is linked to a vaccine preservative. The new research is being published this week in the CDC publication, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-05-04-autism-estimate_x.htm US survey shows autism very common Thu May 4, 2006 9:33 PM BST Email This Article | Print This Article | RSS [-] Text [+] By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The first national surveys of autism show the condition is very common among U.S. children -- with up to one in every 175 with the disorder, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday. This adds up to at least 300,000 U.S. schoolchildren with autism, a condition that causes trouble with learning, socializing and behavior, the CDC said. The CDC analyzed data on 24,673 children whose parents took part in two separate government surveys on health in the United States to generate its first national estimate of the prevalence of autism. "Together, these

two national surveys of parents indicate that at least 300,000 children aged 4 to 17 years old had autism in 2003-04," the CDC said in the report. The surveys came up with similar results -- that autism has been diagnosed in anywhere between 5.5 per 1,000 and 5.7 per 1,000 children aged 4 to 17. This translates to between one in every 175 to one in every 181 children. "(The surveys) affirm that autism is a condition of major public health concern that affects many families," Dr. Jose Cordero, director of CDC's National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, told reporters in a telephone briefing. He said the findings fit in with previous estimates of autism, which were based on local surveys done in Atlanta and New Jersey. The 1996 Metropolitan Atlanta Developmental Disabilities Surveillance Program survey showed autism had been diagnosed in 3.4 per 1,000 of the 3- to 10-year-olds included, or one in every 296. The 1998 Brick

Township, New Jersey survey showed a rate of 6.7 per 1,000 children of the same age, or one in every 166. Continued... "Our ideal is not the spirituality that withdraws from life but the conquest of life by the power of the spirit." - Aurobindo.

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Autism - Worst Welfare Disaster In History

 

 

http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_evelyn_p_060418_autism___worst_welfa

htmApril 18, 2006

Autism - Worst Welfare Disaster In History By Evelyn Pringle

 

Scientist and medical experts say that unless the government forces the pharmaceutical industry to pay for the damage caused by mercury-laced vaccines, in the not too distant future, Americans will experience the worst welfare disaster in the history of this country.

 

No doubt with that in mind, eight members of Congress are calling for a new

investigation into the link between the autism epidemic and the mercury-basedpreservative, thimerosal, that children received in vaccines during the 1990s, and that some children received as late as 2003.

After six years of hearings, and testimony from medical experts, scientists, special education teachers, school nurses, and parents of autistic children, several lawmakers say they are convinced that a review of the vaccine database will show a causal link between autism and thimerosal.

 

Throughout the 1990s, when thimerosal was most heavily used, the number of children diagnosed with autism reached epidemic proportions. During this period,

the levels of mercury that children received were 120 times greater than safetystandards set for oral ingestion of mercury in food, according to the lawmakers.

In 1999, public health officials began asking vaccine-makers to eliminate the preservative from childhood vaccines. But seven years later, word got out that the preservative is still in the flu vaccine recently added to the childhood immunization schedule, and parents, medical experts, and scientists are outraged.

In seeking an independent review, the lawmakers basically told the Centers forDisease Control to butt out. They maintain that previous research conducted bythe agency is flawed because it " was based on data collected prior to the

removal of thimerosal and failed to explicitly compare the outcome of childrenwho received thimerosal-containing vaccines with those who did not, " theysaid.The group has also criticized the Institute of Medicine for its 2004 public

announcement that there is no link between vaccines and autism, because theconclusion for the most part, was based on European studies, when Americanchildren had been injected with 75% higher levels of mercury than the European

children in the studies were exposed to.

In March 2006, the lawmakers sent a letter to the National Institute of

Environmental Health Sciences, asking their agency to conduct a study of theCDC's Vaccine Safety Datalink, which contains records on 7 million childrenvaccinated since 1990.If the federal government is going to have a study whose results will be broadly accepted, such a study cannot be led by the CDC, " the lawmakers wrote in the letter.

 

Although the debate over the cause of autism may rage on indefinitely, the rising costs to society of caring for and educating the children afflicted with

the disorder can not be ignored.

On January 4, 2005, the Government Accountability Office advised the Subcommittee on Human Rights and Wellness Committee on Government Reform, that the average per pupil cost for educating a child with autism was estimated to be over $18,000 during the 1999-2000 school year, the most recent year in which data were available at the time of the report.

 

That means that six years ago, the GAO’s estimate for educating autistic

children was nearly 3 times the cost of educating a normal student. The amount of money needed to educate autistic children is the highest per pupil cost forchildren receiving special ed services.

The epidemic does not discriminate, its happening in every state in the nation,

due to the fact that under the mandatory vaccine schedule, children in every state received the same mercury-laced vaccines.

From December 1998 to December 2002, the autism population in California's

Developmental Services System nearly doubled and the 97% increase in 4 years did not include children less than 3, persons classified with less common forms ofautism, or persons who are suspected of having autism but are not yet diagnosed.

The total number of autistic students served statewide increased from 10,360 inDecember 1998 to 20,377 in December 2002.

Over the last 6 years, the state of Ohio experienced more than a 1,000% increase in students with autism, with 5,406 reported cases for the 2003-2004 school year, according to the Ohio Legislative Office Of Education Oversight.

 

This year, the Pennridge School District in Pennsylvania, expects to only receive about $1 million in federal funding, and only $2.8 million from the state, to cover its $11 million special ed budget. This means about 60% of the total cost will have to be paid by local taxpayers.

 

In recent years, the average age of autistic children entering the school system

has shifted to much younger children. Under federal law, public schools mustprovide appropriate education for all children with disabilities, starting at age 3, and many autistic children remain in the system until age 21.

 

For very young children, the recommendation for early intervention has created

an increased demand for more intensive behavioral therapy and educationalservices in general. However, the federal government only partially reimburses the states for the cost of educating autistic children, even though early intervention means that the services required for each child must now be

provided for a much longer period of time.

And on the other hand, as more autistic children reach late adolescence, the need for out-of-home residential services is beginning to have a heavy impact on state budgets.

 

 

There is also an increase in public health care costs associated with the growing number of autistic children. For instance, according to state government

records, South Carolina has an estimated 2000 children under the age of 18 withautism, and the great majority of these children are eligible for at leastsome services covered by Medicaid.

During the fiscal year 2005, according to the Department of Health and Human

Services, South Carolina paid out more than $20 million for autism care, in large part, because most insurance companies do not cover the high cost of the specific therapies that have been found to be the most successful in treating children with autism.

A group of South Carolina lawmakers are trying to pass a bill that would requireprivate insurers to cover services for all autism patients regardless of age.Industry lobbyist, Larry Marchant says that if passed, the bill would cause the

health insurance premiums that individuals or families pay to increase 25%,and would average out to an extra $200 a month for those enrolled in family plans, according to State.com on March 26, 2006.

 

In addition, the financial burden that a disorder like autism takes on families

is absolutely devastating. Upon becoming autistic after receiving vaccines at 16months, Laura Bono says her son, " Jackson's medical and therapy needs began taking every bit of money we had saved or ever would have saved. "

 

" The total we have paid for Jackson's medical, nutritional and private therapy

expenses so far, " Laura says, " is roughly $685,000 since August 1990. "

That amount averages out to well over $50,000 a year.

 

There is no escaping the fact that the epidemic is having a profound impact on society; not only on autistic children and their families, but on our public health care programs and school systems as well. And, until vaccine-makers are held accountable, taxpayers will continue to carry the full burden.

 

 

www.momsagainstmercury.org