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If the statistic “one in 166” has a familiar ring, perhaps that’s because you recently heard it on a television commercial or read it in a magazine. According to widely publicized estimates, one in 166 is now the proportion of children who suffer from autism. This proportion is astonishingly high compared with the figure of one in 2,500 that autism researchers had accepted for decades. Across a mere 10-year period—1993 to 2003—statistics from the U.S. Department of Education revealed a 657 percent increase in the nationwide rate of autism.
Not surprisingly, these bewildering increases have led many researchers and educators to refer to an “autism epidemic.” Representative Dan Burton of Indiana also declared in 2001 that “we have an epidemic on our hands.” But what’s really going on?
This article was originally published with the title Is There Really an Autism Epidemic?.
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29 Comments
Add CommentHey, maybe it's because there isn't nearly so much selection now, mute individuals can MATE, for god's sake! so they can pass on their---wrong---DNA to later generations
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI am sorry if this is offensive, but since natural selection in humans is not nearly as strong, the DNA causing this can be passed on, therefore spreading
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAn environmental trigger for autism has been identified. Michael Waldman (2006) has proven that autism is strongly correlated with early childhood exposure to television. Such exposure, like autism, has risen dramatically in recent years.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWaldmans research is highly convincing. Nevertheless is has been dismissed. Our culture is so enamored of television and the computer that it resists the accumulating evidence that early over-exposure leads to behavioral problems in children. Parents of autistic children dread feeling blamed.
Both the public and many researchers have been misled by the evidence that autism is correlated with genetic factors (Time, 2006) [2]. In fact the genetic evidence shows that genetic factors may predispose an infant to autism, but that genetic factors alone rarely cause autism. For example, when one genetically identical twin is autistic, the other is usually not autistic.
For more information see Maxson McDowell in Dynamical Psychology (2004)
This is anecdotal, but we have noticed a marked decline in our kids' academic capabilities for a period of time after they have exposure to computer games (pc, gameboy, xbox, etc). Also a general behavioral decline, marked by reduced self control, increased emotional instability, and reduced ability to focus and complete tasks which they do not enjoy.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe effect in this case is so clear that we have banned all such games during semester.
On the topic of proliferation of diagnoses of autism and many other conditions, one has to wonder if drug companies' advertising of conditions their drugs claim to be able to improve is having an impact.
Again anecdotal, our kids' doctor wanted to leap straight to ADHD and medication as soon as we mentioned the issues above, intermittent as they were. There was barely 30 seconds of thought, and no probing questions, put forth by him before he reached for the prescription pad. We refused, gave up on doctors, and were able to resolve all issues without medication, using the means indicated above.
We have noticed a different effect when the kids watch a lot of TV. They become little zombies, relatively speaking. Net result: TV largely banned.
RT
Anyone who does the minimum of research will immediately find that there is a MAJOR correlation between vaccines and autism as well as SIDS and you can get much of this info from M.D.s It's being done on purpose. The global elite have an agenda to lower the population, dumb down the masses and run the world. Wake up people.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat is amazing is that no one appears to realize that during this same study period, the rise in babies born addicted to crack.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisVaccines were a 1950-1960 phenomenon and there is no proof that the children (now middle aged and baby boomers) were negatively affected. Yet crack addicted babies were not monitored after leaving hospitals, foster homes and schools to gauge long term effects.
Your respondents obviously do not have a close reletive with autism, but you will soon. My son is severely autistic and no I never did crack nor do I have autism in my genes nor are my other children autistic. Keep living in la la land. This is not something the government can admit to, because if you marched tens of thousands of my Dan's into court rooms there would be no drug companies left. After all we give 70 year old women who smoked their whole lives millions what are all these children's lives worth.? There is an epidemic. My generation (last of the baby boomers got 5 vaccines. Our kids got 22. How can we honestly think we are not doing something to our immune systems. Just think about it all these diseases in little bodies whose immune systems are not even close to being developed being inundated with measles, mumps, diptheria etc. etc. OH yeah and 600 times the amount of mercury allowed in an adult. Wake UP all non believers. This is the greatest lie in history. Why else would congress have pulled themerosol out so quickly they do nothing quickly. Oh but the government on NJ just mandated all pre schoolers get flu shots... one of the only vaccines still containing the mercury preservative. Can anyone say politicians in back pocket of big drug companies? Thank GOD I believe in a higher power. They will answer to someone much b
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOh please that is one of the most inane reasons --my son rarely ever watched TV but he did have 22 shots in a year and a half. If bet you drive a hybrid too.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Thank god I believe in god."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThat makes a lot of sense.
1 in 166 is less than 1% of the population. This is not an epidemic and to say it is caused by vaccines is stupid to say the least. As is constantly providing anecdotal evidence as a form of evidence. There is a lot of research on parental bias in the reporting process which is why it is not used in a respectable research paper. All the beliefs in the world doesn't make something true. You HAVE TO PROVE IT!! And saying there is a conspiracy doesn't prove anything either. If it were true Congress would just pass a law limiting the liability of drug companies, duh!!!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI find it interesting that no one cites the use of insecticides. Considering that these are known neurotoxins that build up in living systems over time, it would seem like a more obvious candidate. It isn't cited because parents would have to share responsibility and they need someone else to blame. The vaccine issue is just something new the conspiracy crazies have come up with to bash science.
This is my first time on this site. It is interesting that the first article I would come across would be one on Autism. I have been in the field of education for 25 years. I started out as a regular education teacher, moved on in education to Gifted and went on to get my degree in psychology. The first year I taught school I had one student diagnosed with Autism. This unique child sent me on my own quest to understand Autism. I have no involvement with the drug companies, however, my grandchildren do now receive immunization shots, (at least not until they are ready to attend kindergarten and their has been a longer window for their brains to develop.) I stopped working as a psychologist in the public school system to get more hands on education to help kids with Autism. I feel my experience in both regular education and special education has given me first hand as a witness of this extreme growth in Autism. I have worked with Intellectually Handicapped kids, Learning Disabled kids and gone from coast to coast to get more experience in diagnosing Autism, (I refuse to use just rating scales or check lists.) This is not just a problem with where to categorize students difficulties.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAutism is putting families in extreme crisis and the education system s as well. colleges cannot keep up with the growth of this epidemic in educating teachers and the medical practitioners even how to deal with it. I disagree.
I would just like to say that to those of you who say that there is a correlation between vaccinations and autism should know enough to know that correlations do not equal causes.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisVirus(microorganisms) have evolved with humans beings for so long that we can hardly compare it to the time spent in research and suddenly we think we can control nature. There will always be unexpected results and some of them will never be quantified, because they take time to show but they eventually do. We are always concerned about only immediate results but what about the others. I have worked with handicapped children and there are more literature on this regard that we could hardly believe. However, farmaceutical are not interested in letting it be known..... just ask yourselves more question and maybe you will get more unswers....
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHere's the big issue I have with the anti-vaccination arguments on this blog:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThey are rallying against "the elites", talk about "agendas", and even accused those who support vaccines of being godless hybred driving commies.
I also am curious about the mercury/autism connection. Mercury poisoning symptoms are well known and have been recorded in young children. However, they don't include autism. (See http://heartspring.net/mercury_poison_symptoms.html).
I also note that while the diagnosis of autism has risen in subsequent years, the number of cases of mental retardation and learning disabilities has dropped. It appears that diagnoses of autism might be replacing more general diagnoses of mental retardation and learning disabilities.
The connection between autism and vaccinations is so far fairly weak. When an epidemiological study shows no connection, many advocates claim that these studies are too broad to find the small number of kids who may be affected. So far, there is little scientific evidence that points to any link.
If there is epidemiological evidence, it should be given and not name calling. I too have kids whom I love very much. I don't want them to get ill. Please don't accuse me of not caring.
I grew up when children got these childhood diseases. I remember the fact that 1/3 of my class would be absent for a few weeks each year. I remember that certain kids never returned to school. I remember visiting friends in hospitals because they came down with a bad case of rubella. These are awful diseases. Hundreds of kids died each year. Thousands became disabled.
These vaccines have been so effective that the problems caused by the vaccine now outnumbers problems caused by the diseases they prevent. This happened with the polio vaccine. For a while, when the U.S. used the oral polio vaccine, almost all cases of polio were traced to the vaccine. One of the worst years, there were 19 cases of polio in the U.S., all caused by the vaccine. This compares to the thousands that use to get polio every year before the vaccine.
I remember what it was like before the MMR and Chicken Pox vaccines. Hundreds of thousands of children getting ill each year, and thousands never recovering completely. The data for the effectiveness for these vaccines is quite easy to come by. All you need to do is look at the number of children who got these illnesses before and after the vaccine came out. Also look at the drop in related diseases like meningitis.
If there are problems, please show epidemiological data. Not simply "B followed A, therefore A was the cause.", or "I believe it was A that caused B". These vaccines have saved hundreds if not thousands of lives. It would be a shame to go back to the days of my childhood when thousands of children suffered a wide variety of disabilities due to the diseases these vaccines prevented just because of a popular belief.
www.trackingvaccinations.com
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf more autism diagnoses are being made, because the criteria are wider, then the number of severely affected children should have remained about the same, because they would have been diagnosed before anyway. So, if most of the increase is in the "high functioning" cases, then it's probably changes in diagnosis. If the severity is increasing as well as the numbers, we have to look for another explanation.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI work with autistic students in schools and I see a huge rise. To think it is not an epidemic is just plain ignorance.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI am a special Education teacher and autism is an epidemic. If you don't belive that then you haven't been exposed to the real world.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"If more autism diagnoses are being made, because the criteria are wider, then the number of severely affected children should have remained about the same, because they would have been diagnosed before anyway."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe increase in diagnoses is attributable to several factors including, as the article points out, diagnostic substitution. So yes, we can see an increase in more severe forms of autism if those kids would have been diagnosed MR in the past.
It seems
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNobody here is autistic so we don't have the perspective of being autistic. They may have certain talents and abilities that non autistic people may not have. Should we find a cure for that?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGreat article! So, I guess any real scientist would deny that there is an epidemic of autism because we don't know what causes it. This is circular reasoning, not scientific method, in my humble opinion.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisReal scientists do not "deny" the epidemic - they simply acknowledge there is no good data to indicate one way or another that the true incidence has risen.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have an autistic son now 22. I would be amused if it were not so important. Remember when the CDC kept saying that the autism rate was 1/2500? At the time, my son was attending elementary school, there were 3 autistic children in a school of 250. If that were a statistical test it would clearly say to reject the null hypothesis (autism rate = 1/2500). I lived 30 years of my life never hearing of autism. Cerebral Palsy, Hemophilia, retardation, schizophrenia - I knew of and had seen examples of all of them. Now I have only to walk down the street to find other autistic children. Do you understand how the claim that the rate is 1/2500 and the claim that autism has always been around at the same rate as it is right now defies my personal observations.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe claims that there is no epidemic, that the autism rate remains at 1/2500 is pushed by the pro-vax community as near as I can see to protect the vaccine practice. Doing so has ruined the credibility with me that the pro-vax community has claimed only they should have.
The autism rate was 1:2,500 in the early 80s, when autism was diagnosed by the DSM III. In the early 80s there was no autism spectrum, and no PDD-NOS or Asperger's. The kids labeled as autistic fit the description for Kanner's autism.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe fact is, two-thirds of the children on the autism spectrum today would have received a different diagnosis, or no label at all, 25 years ago.
i do agree with the premise that having broadened the definition of autism into a broad spectrum disorder obscures not only the stats, but i would also think it would make finding the cause of the infancy Autism harder to determine. then again, i'm just a lay person and not a scientist. but, autism does beg the question: What are we doing to our children...? There's something going on! and, someone has the answer...! vty, sue
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYes, you are begging the question.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have two children with autism, one severe with oral-motor problems and a feeding tube, one with asburgers. I do not own a television. Your one size fits all autism box does not apply to everyone.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt is incredible how hostile and arrogant people who are supposedly intelligent enough to care about science really are. I suppose that is why we don't know what is causing autism or how to stop it.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPeople who claim it couldn't possible be vaccines are ignorant of vaccine facts. Vaccines can and do cause neurological damage and immunological damage and even death. This is why you must sign a release before your child is vaccinated which states clearly that this is the case. Vaccines are not evil neither are those who administer them. Any tool is useful if used properly.
The TV arguement,could be valid, However,you find more autistic children in ultra conscientious homes with well educated parents, than among illiterates who prop their infants up in front of it.
Of course there are those who would claim overuse of antibiotics to be a cause. Some claim maternity anesthesia to be a cause. Some even claim some bad family juju. The DNA arguement is weak, unless of course the human genome is breaking down.
Now the neurotoxic pesticides, hmm. I am sorry you are not the first to call our toxic world into question. Apparently anyone who could do anything about this simply doesn't care.
As far as whether this is an epidemic or not, ask yourself when was the last time you spoke with someone who was related to someone autistic? Now concider how many people you know with a neurological disorder of some kind like ADD, Parkinsons, MS,alzheimers or bipolar. It should be enough to scare us into action, but apparently not.
So simply put, if intelligent people can't set aside their preconceived ideas and remove their emotions from the equation, then it most likely will not be an intelligent person who discovers the cause or the cure for autism.
A cure for autism. Now that would be cool.