| The Autism Epidemic, understanding autism - Bright Tots - Information on child development - Autism information |
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| The Autism Epidemic |
The phrase “autism epidemic” sounds harsh but we must recognize the fact that autism is the fastest growing
developmental disorder. Once considered a “genetic disorder,” autism is now being diagnosed at an astounding rate. Yet
while parents, health professionals, teachers, and a growing number of researchers confirm the overabundance of
autistic children, this biological condition seems to have touched off an epidemic of public concern. There’s much
criticism concerning denial of both the fact of a rise in the number of children diagnosed with autism and the possibility
that genetic factors may have influence the increase. This denial only threatens to accelerate an educational, financial,
social and human catastrophe in future years.
Living in Epidemic Denial
Diagnoses of autism and pervasive developmental disorders (PDDs) or autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) have
increased since they were first exposed there has been a rapid increase over the last decade. Where rates were once 3
in 10,000, they are now 1 in 91 to 1 in 100. This is an increase from the prior statistic of one in 150 children reported
in 2007 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This increase is apparently to be nationwide.
Although no other state has kept comparable statistics, the US Department of Education has recorded a nationwide
average increase of 544 percent in autistic students from 1992-93 to 2000-01, and comparable rates have been found in
a number of local studies. A CDC study showed a tenfold increase over the last decade. There are several ways in
which these figures considerably underestimate the extent of the inflation. Mainly, autism affects boys three to four
times as often as girls; furthermore, the rates in California reported only the most severe cases; when mildly but still
notably impaired children are included, the numbers can be significantly higher. And many people consider other
disorders, such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and many learning disabilities, to be on a spectrum
with autism.
Perceived to be an epidemic, autism may affect a range of millions worldwide to as many as 20 percent of children in
the U.S. Such an extreme growth implies the influence of non-genetic or environmental factors, since, there is no such
thing as a “genetic epidemic.” But research continues to focus almost exclusively on studies of brains, screening and
genes, as well as on denying the increase or disproving the connection of controversial environmental triggers,
especially immunizations.
Autism a Genetic Condition
What does it mean to describe a condition as genetic? Every disease, including viral and infectious ones, involves
vulnerabilities or resistances that relate in somehow to genetic influences. But for many autism researchers, genetics is
not about infliction or vulnerability it is about “cause” and “purpose.” These researchers justify their search for autism
genes by presenting a study of twins: while a range of 36 to 96 percent of both identical twins have autistic features,
this is true for only 0 to 33 percent of fraternal twins. The irregularity in the numbers shows that claims of entirely
genetic roots are frivolous; but these figures can also be used to argue that environmental factors must play a role,
since the link for identical twins is not 100%.
However, the “genetic” approach to autism has secured upwards of $60 million in research funding. To date there have
been as many as eight inheritable traits scans and dozens of genetic studies. As in so many other gene research studies,
at least a few specific regions have been located on nearly every chromosome, but they have not led to particular gene
for investigation.
Autism a Biological Disorder
Many established autism researchers understandably pride themselves on ejecting the discriminatory “refrigerator
mother” theory, which thought that autism was a behavioral response of children to mothers who failed to display
affection. Findings in the 1980s of abnormalities in autistic brains freed parents of this blame and shame, and opened
the way to treating autism as a biological disorder. These brain abnormalities appeared to be of prenatal origin, and this
seemed to fit with the evidence for genetic causes and the lifelong, apparently irreversible impairment of people with
autism.
Researchers concluded that autism was determined by the genes, and originated before birth, and is treatable by
behavior modification. This has established the recent research guide, which is mainly driven by genetics, neuroscience
and psychology. But this theory is now evolving. New evidence is emerging from both within and outside the dominant
research areas that makes autism look more like an environmentally designed condition. Many autistic children turn out
to develop abnormally large brains, and do so after birth, in the first 2-3 years of life. Recent studies suggest that other
brain changes, previously thought to be prenatal, could have occurred after birth.
It also turns out that autistic children have considerable ailments not only in their brains but in their bodies. While the
researchers and health community considers physical symptoms to be “circumstantial” to the root autism, and pays
little attention to them, subgroups of autistic children have common patterns of significant biomedical illness notably
immune system disturbances, disturbances in various biochemical passages (including impaired detoxification, which
may explain increased susceptibility to toxic exposure), and painful gastrointestinal conditions. When treated
biomedically, many autistic children have shown great behavioral improvement and improved receptiveness, suggesting
that their behaviors aren’t entirely fixed.
From a general perspective, which defines autism in terms of a rigid genetically originated brain disorder, it is
unfathomable that nutritional or metabolic interventions could have any effect on the condition. Therefore, such
approaches are dismissed, usually without investigation, as “controversial.” But for those who see autism as an
environmentally driven condition, it makes perfect sense that the body as well as the brain should be affected. Why
would toxins only inflict illness to the brain? A growing social movement of parents and doctors who take
environmental causes seriously feel that the genetic approach has letdown autistic children by assuming that biomedical
treatment can’t help. They argue that they look at their physically ill children and “believe what they see,” while the
genetic advocates “see what they believe.”
The Bio-Medical Approach
The mainstream’s refusal towards new approaches to autism exposes two sets of rules about evidence. While parents
and practitioners offering these methods are unable on their own to bear the overwhelming cost of double-blind
controlled studies, neither have the accepted pharmacological and behavioral approaches been tested in this precise
manner. No one in the field of autism treatment has much support for achieving an acknowledged formula of “Evidence
Based Medicine”.
Progress in biomedical treatments will only happen once researchers move beyond a persistently gene-brain link and
coordinate funding to physiological and toxicological autism research. Unfortunately, pharmaceutical companies are
unlikely to investigate biomedical approaches for autism, since many of the most promising nutritional interventions
have little potential for patent as a result there is little profit. Because the environmental triggers underlying the autism
epidemic are supposedly harming not just the brain but the body as well, researcher should be testing and analyzing
biomedical approaches, rather than just searching for new psychological drugs, behavioral treatments and gene
recognition.
First we must understand the source of these two sets of denials. The denial of increasing incidence in autism and the
denial of non-genetic biological and environmental factors are essential both to responding to autism and understanding
the ideal role of genetic research in modern America.
Environmental Causes
At a conference in October 2002 at Rutgers University entitled “Autism: Genes and the Environment,” leading
researchers of the genetic background shared the stage with toxicologists in what seemed to indicate the careful
beginnings of a new culmination. But there is still no coordinated step toward a research study that includes genes and
environment. There are probably several reasons for this. Certainly there are significant economic forces that stand to
gain from the current direction of research.
The idea that identifying genes and brain connections will lead to targeted drug development not only benefits the
pharmaceutical industry, but also leads researchers to down a path that is familiar and realistic. In the belief of many
researchers, is that genes dominate, while environmental factors seem trivial and secondary. Furthermore, examining
environmental agents as causes opens up a difficult situation exposed to imperfections.
It’s difficult to envision that toxic results found in autism were triggered by the environment, without doubting one’s
own health and the health of our family. The thought of human actions, rather than genes, being responsible for
exposing the health of a huge portion of a whole generation is, unimaginable. And if there are environmental causes,
then there may be liability and corporate accountability. If mismanagement with chemicals can harm children so
extensively, ultimately manufacturers will have to reinvent the way they do things. This is a controversial issue where
precautions will have to be taken, and the way we live would change. This is so significant that companies will go
through great lengths to avoid.
The Social Cost of Autism
At the same time, the dedication of many researchers, regulators, legislators, investors, as well as some parent groups
to explain away the increased incidence of autism will have serious social effects. School districts have an excess
amount of autistic children. These children are often unable to function within a mainstream classroom, for several
reasons because of violent or self-inflicted behaviors, lack of toilet training, or inability to communicate. The cost of
providing them with individualized behavioral therapy, which requires up to forty hours a week for maximum
effectiveness, can run from $30,000 to $60,000 per year, per child. As a result, the already low budget, public school
districts will rather avoid providing these services, and parents without the financial means are left with few options for
their children, since Medicaid will not cover the complete amount of behavioral therapy.
Autism was once thought to be a genetic disorder in origin, the extreme rise in the number of cases during the last
decade shows that environmental triggers may also be to blame. The huge increase in autism rates coincides, with the
early 1990s, the release of two new thimerosal vaccines to the infant immunization schedule. In 1999, the FDA
disclosed that the amount of mercury in vaccines surpassed EPA safety guidelines. Manufacturers were asked to
remove thimerosal, although existing substance were left on the shelves. Parent groups like Safe Minds demonstrated
that the symptoms of mercury poisoning matched the abnormalities they saw in their children. Scientists are now
showing that vaccine levels of thimerosal can cause neuronal apoptosis, immune imbalances, and autistic like brain
lesions and behaviors.
Not only are lawsuits a threat, but the presence of an untested toxin in infant vaccines raises the question of whether
vaccines are being properly evaluated before being released to the public. Vaccines are considered a lucrative business
for pharmaceuticals now and in the future. Hundreds of vaccines are in various stages of development. Revenues are
expected to reach into the hundreds of billions of dollars. Parents of autistic children are making a recognizable
interference, but the pharmaceutical giants are avenging with denials.
According to Safe Minds, full-spectrum autism (low functioning), even if treated early and intensively, continues to
have a poor prognosis. As this generation of children ages and their parents are no longer able to provide full-time care
for them, residential institutions will be unable to provide facilities for even a fraction of these autistic adults. Estimates
of the lifetime costs of care for a child diagnosed with autism today range widely from conservative predictions of $2
million, to published figures as high as $12.4 million, depending on the extent of therapies, care, and support services
figured into the equation. Over the next decade, the autism epidemic is likely to cost the U.S. economy hundreds of
millions of dollars.
CONCLUSION
A children’s epidemic opens up an outpouring of concern and sets off a crucial search for effective action. While
discoveries that abnormal events may be occurring after birth should initiate a search for environmental triggers, it also
opens up optimistic views for prevention and for treatment.
Time and time again we hear about conferences victoriously announcing that “scientists are closing in” on the genetics
of autism. The objective of genetics researchers, in failure of their efforts, has been simply increasing the number of
genes they expect to find. Currently, the number of genes identified in autism is up to twenty or more, where it used to
be as few as three or four. The attempts should focus on to recognizing the increased susceptibility for autism in small
subgroups.
To persist on a genetic explanation for autism, and insist that the epidemic is a consequence of heredity rather than
toxic effects, is a desperate attempt to maintain new chemicals and technology, which always brings advancements. By
simplifying a complex genetic theory researchers are obscuring the epidemic, because it carries taboos within the
scientific community against potentially controversial ideas about environmental factors, and it distracts governments
from addressing the financial and social demands that this epidemic generated.
developmental disorder. Once considered a “genetic disorder,” autism is now being diagnosed at an astounding rate. Yet
while parents, health professionals, teachers, and a growing number of researchers confirm the overabundance of
autistic children, this biological condition seems to have touched off an epidemic of public concern. There’s much
criticism concerning denial of both the fact of a rise in the number of children diagnosed with autism and the possibility
that genetic factors may have influence the increase. This denial only threatens to accelerate an educational, financial,
social and human catastrophe in future years.
Living in Epidemic Denial
Diagnoses of autism and pervasive developmental disorders (PDDs) or autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) have
increased since they were first exposed there has been a rapid increase over the last decade. Where rates were once 3
in 10,000, they are now 1 in 91 to 1 in 100. This is an increase from the prior statistic of one in 150 children reported
in 2007 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This increase is apparently to be nationwide.
Although no other state has kept comparable statistics, the US Department of Education has recorded a nationwide
average increase of 544 percent in autistic students from 1992-93 to 2000-01, and comparable rates have been found in
a number of local studies. A CDC study showed a tenfold increase over the last decade. There are several ways in
which these figures considerably underestimate the extent of the inflation. Mainly, autism affects boys three to four
times as often as girls; furthermore, the rates in California reported only the most severe cases; when mildly but still
notably impaired children are included, the numbers can be significantly higher. And many people consider other
disorders, such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and many learning disabilities, to be on a spectrum
with autism.
Perceived to be an epidemic, autism may affect a range of millions worldwide to as many as 20 percent of children in
the U.S. Such an extreme growth implies the influence of non-genetic or environmental factors, since, there is no such
thing as a “genetic epidemic.” But research continues to focus almost exclusively on studies of brains, screening and
genes, as well as on denying the increase or disproving the connection of controversial environmental triggers,
especially immunizations.
Autism a Genetic Condition
What does it mean to describe a condition as genetic? Every disease, including viral and infectious ones, involves
vulnerabilities or resistances that relate in somehow to genetic influences. But for many autism researchers, genetics is
not about infliction or vulnerability it is about “cause” and “purpose.” These researchers justify their search for autism
genes by presenting a study of twins: while a range of 36 to 96 percent of both identical twins have autistic features,
this is true for only 0 to 33 percent of fraternal twins. The irregularity in the numbers shows that claims of entirely
genetic roots are frivolous; but these figures can also be used to argue that environmental factors must play a role,
since the link for identical twins is not 100%.
However, the “genetic” approach to autism has secured upwards of $60 million in research funding. To date there have
been as many as eight inheritable traits scans and dozens of genetic studies. As in so many other gene research studies,
at least a few specific regions have been located on nearly every chromosome, but they have not led to particular gene
for investigation.
Autism a Biological Disorder
Many established autism researchers understandably pride themselves on ejecting the discriminatory “refrigerator
mother” theory, which thought that autism was a behavioral response of children to mothers who failed to display
affection. Findings in the 1980s of abnormalities in autistic brains freed parents of this blame and shame, and opened
the way to treating autism as a biological disorder. These brain abnormalities appeared to be of prenatal origin, and this
seemed to fit with the evidence for genetic causes and the lifelong, apparently irreversible impairment of people with
autism.
Researchers concluded that autism was determined by the genes, and originated before birth, and is treatable by
behavior modification. This has established the recent research guide, which is mainly driven by genetics, neuroscience
and psychology. But this theory is now evolving. New evidence is emerging from both within and outside the dominant
research areas that makes autism look more like an environmentally designed condition. Many autistic children turn out
to develop abnormally large brains, and do so after birth, in the first 2-3 years of life. Recent studies suggest that other
brain changes, previously thought to be prenatal, could have occurred after birth.
It also turns out that autistic children have considerable ailments not only in their brains but in their bodies. While the
researchers and health community considers physical symptoms to be “circumstantial” to the root autism, and pays
little attention to them, subgroups of autistic children have common patterns of significant biomedical illness notably
immune system disturbances, disturbances in various biochemical passages (including impaired detoxification, which
may explain increased susceptibility to toxic exposure), and painful gastrointestinal conditions. When treated
biomedically, many autistic children have shown great behavioral improvement and improved receptiveness, suggesting
that their behaviors aren’t entirely fixed.
From a general perspective, which defines autism in terms of a rigid genetically originated brain disorder, it is
unfathomable that nutritional or metabolic interventions could have any effect on the condition. Therefore, such
approaches are dismissed, usually without investigation, as “controversial.” But for those who see autism as an
environmentally driven condition, it makes perfect sense that the body as well as the brain should be affected. Why
would toxins only inflict illness to the brain? A growing social movement of parents and doctors who take
environmental causes seriously feel that the genetic approach has letdown autistic children by assuming that biomedical
treatment can’t help. They argue that they look at their physically ill children and “believe what they see,” while the
genetic advocates “see what they believe.”
The Bio-Medical Approach
The mainstream’s refusal towards new approaches to autism exposes two sets of rules about evidence. While parents
and practitioners offering these methods are unable on their own to bear the overwhelming cost of double-blind
controlled studies, neither have the accepted pharmacological and behavioral approaches been tested in this precise
manner. No one in the field of autism treatment has much support for achieving an acknowledged formula of “Evidence
Based Medicine”.
Progress in biomedical treatments will only happen once researchers move beyond a persistently gene-brain link and
coordinate funding to physiological and toxicological autism research. Unfortunately, pharmaceutical companies are
unlikely to investigate biomedical approaches for autism, since many of the most promising nutritional interventions
have little potential for patent as a result there is little profit. Because the environmental triggers underlying the autism
epidemic are supposedly harming not just the brain but the body as well, researcher should be testing and analyzing
biomedical approaches, rather than just searching for new psychological drugs, behavioral treatments and gene
recognition.
First we must understand the source of these two sets of denials. The denial of increasing incidence in autism and the
denial of non-genetic biological and environmental factors are essential both to responding to autism and understanding
the ideal role of genetic research in modern America.
Environmental Causes
At a conference in October 2002 at Rutgers University entitled “Autism: Genes and the Environment,” leading
researchers of the genetic background shared the stage with toxicologists in what seemed to indicate the careful
beginnings of a new culmination. But there is still no coordinated step toward a research study that includes genes and
environment. There are probably several reasons for this. Certainly there are significant economic forces that stand to
gain from the current direction of research.
The idea that identifying genes and brain connections will lead to targeted drug development not only benefits the
pharmaceutical industry, but also leads researchers to down a path that is familiar and realistic. In the belief of many
researchers, is that genes dominate, while environmental factors seem trivial and secondary. Furthermore, examining
environmental agents as causes opens up a difficult situation exposed to imperfections.
It’s difficult to envision that toxic results found in autism were triggered by the environment, without doubting one’s
own health and the health of our family. The thought of human actions, rather than genes, being responsible for
exposing the health of a huge portion of a whole generation is, unimaginable. And if there are environmental causes,
then there may be liability and corporate accountability. If mismanagement with chemicals can harm children so
extensively, ultimately manufacturers will have to reinvent the way they do things. This is a controversial issue where
precautions will have to be taken, and the way we live would change. This is so significant that companies will go
through great lengths to avoid.
The Social Cost of Autism
At the same time, the dedication of many researchers, regulators, legislators, investors, as well as some parent groups
to explain away the increased incidence of autism will have serious social effects. School districts have an excess
amount of autistic children. These children are often unable to function within a mainstream classroom, for several
reasons because of violent or self-inflicted behaviors, lack of toilet training, or inability to communicate. The cost of
providing them with individualized behavioral therapy, which requires up to forty hours a week for maximum
effectiveness, can run from $30,000 to $60,000 per year, per child. As a result, the already low budget, public school
districts will rather avoid providing these services, and parents without the financial means are left with few options for
their children, since Medicaid will not cover the complete amount of behavioral therapy.
Autism was once thought to be a genetic disorder in origin, the extreme rise in the number of cases during the last
decade shows that environmental triggers may also be to blame. The huge increase in autism rates coincides, with the
early 1990s, the release of two new thimerosal vaccines to the infant immunization schedule. In 1999, the FDA
disclosed that the amount of mercury in vaccines surpassed EPA safety guidelines. Manufacturers were asked to
remove thimerosal, although existing substance were left on the shelves. Parent groups like Safe Minds demonstrated
that the symptoms of mercury poisoning matched the abnormalities they saw in their children. Scientists are now
showing that vaccine levels of thimerosal can cause neuronal apoptosis, immune imbalances, and autistic like brain
lesions and behaviors.
Not only are lawsuits a threat, but the presence of an untested toxin in infant vaccines raises the question of whether
vaccines are being properly evaluated before being released to the public. Vaccines are considered a lucrative business
for pharmaceuticals now and in the future. Hundreds of vaccines are in various stages of development. Revenues are
expected to reach into the hundreds of billions of dollars. Parents of autistic children are making a recognizable
interference, but the pharmaceutical giants are avenging with denials.
According to Safe Minds, full-spectrum autism (low functioning), even if treated early and intensively, continues to
have a poor prognosis. As this generation of children ages and their parents are no longer able to provide full-time care
for them, residential institutions will be unable to provide facilities for even a fraction of these autistic adults. Estimates
of the lifetime costs of care for a child diagnosed with autism today range widely from conservative predictions of $2
million, to published figures as high as $12.4 million, depending on the extent of therapies, care, and support services
figured into the equation. Over the next decade, the autism epidemic is likely to cost the U.S. economy hundreds of
millions of dollars.
CONCLUSION
A children’s epidemic opens up an outpouring of concern and sets off a crucial search for effective action. While
discoveries that abnormal events may be occurring after birth should initiate a search for environmental triggers, it also
opens up optimistic views for prevention and for treatment.
Time and time again we hear about conferences victoriously announcing that “scientists are closing in” on the genetics
of autism. The objective of genetics researchers, in failure of their efforts, has been simply increasing the number of
genes they expect to find. Currently, the number of genes identified in autism is up to twenty or more, where it used to
be as few as three or four. The attempts should focus on to recognizing the increased susceptibility for autism in small
subgroups.
To persist on a genetic explanation for autism, and insist that the epidemic is a consequence of heredity rather than
toxic effects, is a desperate attempt to maintain new chemicals and technology, which always brings advancements. By
simplifying a complex genetic theory researchers are obscuring the epidemic, because it carries taboos within the
scientific community against potentially controversial ideas about environmental factors, and it distracts governments
from addressing the financial and social demands that this epidemic generated.
| Autism Epidemic |
| ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Copyright © 2004 Bright Tots® Inc. - Educational Toys & Resource Guide to Child Development - All rights reserved. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ |
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