11-01-2004, 10:39 PM
More over dramatic views in a press release today-
SafeMinds Demonstrates Urgency of Autism Epidemic in New Study
Monday November 1
Calls for Public Health Officials to Declare Autism a National Emergency
In a new and compelling review of four decades of autism surveys from around the world, Mark Blaxill, a Director of SafeMinds and the parent of a child diagnosed with autism, provides conclusive proof that the reported increase in autism rates in the United States and the United Kingdom is very real. Publishing in the newest issue of the respected, peer-reviewed journal, Public Health Reports, Blaxill persuasively contradicts the repeated (and unfounded) speculations of a small group of influential autism experts. These experts have promoted the erroneous view that the dramatic reported rise in the rates of autism in these two countries is a result of changing diagnostic standards and better reporting of cases.
"We simply must face the reality that the exploding rate of autism is a major and unprecedented environmental crisis affecting hundreds of thousands of families," said Blaxill. "It is long past time for public health authorities in both countries to accept this tragic fact and to devote the necessary attention and resources to investigating the root causes of the autism epidemic."
In his new study, a comprehensive and detailed review of over fifty autism prevalence surveys from around the world, Blaxill identifies all the potential sources of survey bias and error in these surveys and demonstrates that none of these is sufficient to explain a meaningful part of the increasing autism rates reported in 19 published surveys of American and British children. "A handful of autism researchers have failed the autism community by neglecting to sound the alarm over the sharp increases in autism rates in the last 10-15 years. They have distorted the facts and deceived their fellow scientists by encouraging the comforting, but incorrect belief that the autism epidemic is not real," said Blaxill. "If we saw this kind of increase in a disability as a consequence of an infectious disease, the CDC would have long ago declared a national emergency. It's time for our public health officials move out of the denial phase and start acting responsibly. Our children's futures depend on it."
Blaxill's analysis demonstrated that real rates of autistic disorder have risen from less than 3 per 10,000 in the United States to well over 30 per 10,000, with a similar increase in cases on the broader autistic spectrum. Rates in the United Kingdom have risen a bit less sharply, but the rate of autistic spectrum disorders has reached over 60 per 10,000 there as well. "No matter how you look at the data, the truth is inescapable. Autism is a public health emergency that must have an environmental cause. It's time we started doing something about it," concluded Blaxill.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/041101/nem072_1.html
SafeMinds Demonstrates Urgency of Autism Epidemic in New Study
Monday November 1
Calls for Public Health Officials to Declare Autism a National Emergency
In a new and compelling review of four decades of autism surveys from around the world, Mark Blaxill, a Director of SafeMinds and the parent of a child diagnosed with autism, provides conclusive proof that the reported increase in autism rates in the United States and the United Kingdom is very real. Publishing in the newest issue of the respected, peer-reviewed journal, Public Health Reports, Blaxill persuasively contradicts the repeated (and unfounded) speculations of a small group of influential autism experts. These experts have promoted the erroneous view that the dramatic reported rise in the rates of autism in these two countries is a result of changing diagnostic standards and better reporting of cases.
"We simply must face the reality that the exploding rate of autism is a major and unprecedented environmental crisis affecting hundreds of thousands of families," said Blaxill. "It is long past time for public health authorities in both countries to accept this tragic fact and to devote the necessary attention and resources to investigating the root causes of the autism epidemic."
In his new study, a comprehensive and detailed review of over fifty autism prevalence surveys from around the world, Blaxill identifies all the potential sources of survey bias and error in these surveys and demonstrates that none of these is sufficient to explain a meaningful part of the increasing autism rates reported in 19 published surveys of American and British children. "A handful of autism researchers have failed the autism community by neglecting to sound the alarm over the sharp increases in autism rates in the last 10-15 years. They have distorted the facts and deceived their fellow scientists by encouraging the comforting, but incorrect belief that the autism epidemic is not real," said Blaxill. "If we saw this kind of increase in a disability as a consequence of an infectious disease, the CDC would have long ago declared a national emergency. It's time for our public health officials move out of the denial phase and start acting responsibly. Our children's futures depend on it."
Blaxill's analysis demonstrated that real rates of autistic disorder have risen from less than 3 per 10,000 in the United States to well over 30 per 10,000, with a similar increase in cases on the broader autistic spectrum. Rates in the United Kingdom have risen a bit less sharply, but the rate of autistic spectrum disorders has reached over 60 per 10,000 there as well. "No matter how you look at the data, the truth is inescapable. Autism is a public health emergency that must have an environmental cause. It's time we started doing something about it," concluded Blaxill.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/041101/nem072_1.html