Senator Clinton and Bob Krakow Commentary

[Guest guest]

Clinton Stresses Commitment To Autism

By s for the desmoinesregister.com.

http://tinyurl.com/35eaen

Sioux City, Ia. - People with autism would see $700 million a year in

spending for more research for cures and services if Hillary Clinton is

elected, the Democratic presidential candidate said today.

" It's time we had a government and a president that recognized the

seriousness of autism and addressed it head-on, " Clinton told a crowd of

more than 300 in Sioux City, a town evenly divided between Democratic,

Republican and independent voters. " We can help people with autism live rich

and full lives. "

The alarming increase in autism in America was the topic of Clinton's

first post-Thanksgiving visit to Iowa, a state where she plans to devote

much more time between now and Christmas.

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Clinton said she would like to see an autism task force, grants for

services for adults, teacher training, and a new national assistance center.

The number of people with autism is growing far faster than the

options for treatment, Clinton said. She said she wants to invest more on

tracking the possible causes of autism.

" I believe there are environmental triggers, " she said.

Clinton said people are exposed to thousand of chemicals. " They are in

the carpets. They are in the paints. They are in the clothes we wear, " she

said.

Democrat Sally Pederson told the audience that when her 24-year-old

son, Autry, was diagnosed when he was 2, she'd never heard of autism.

The number of diagnoses have jumped from 1 in 10,000 in 1993 to 1 in

150 in 2007, said said Pederson, a former lieutenant governor of Iowa.

now has his own apartment and a job and recently purchased his

first car.

" Thank you for your leadership, " said Pederson, who intends to caucus

for Clinton.

Clinton's plan would include a task force, that would include people

from the autism community, that would be charged with identifying gaps in

evidence-based biomedical research, behavioral treatments, and services for

children and adults with autism.

A grant program would offer money for adults with autism, including

for job training, housing, and transition services for young people leaving

school.

She would expand access to care immediately after diagnosis. Intensive

intervention as soon as possible following diagnosis yields the best

outcomes, but too often, children have to wait for months, Clinton said.

There would be more money for school districts to provide teacher

training. " A lot of teachers get no training whatsoever, " Clinton said.

And the national technical assistance center would be a clearinghouse

of information about autism treatments, interventions and services. The

information would accessible to the public through the Internet.

One of Clinton's on-stage guests in Sioux City was Jane Seely, whose

daughter Sara Seely has autism. The younger Seely asked Clinton a question

about pollution and deforestation during a campaign stop earlier this week

in Vinton.

Jane Seely said Sara hopes to be invited to Washington, D.C. if

Clinton is elected.

" You will be invited to the inauguration, no doubt about it, " Clinton

answered, laughing.

NOTE: See COMMENTARY below. -ed.

COMMENTARY

Some Thoughts on Sen. Clinton's Announcement and Her Proposed Legislation

The good news is that by Sen. Clinton's announcement we have

confirmation that autism will, indeed, play a significant role in this

election cycle. It is not just Sen. Clinton who perceives that a political

opportunity exists.

If you examine the bill, the " Expanding the Promise for Individuals

with Autism Act " , that Sen. Clinton introduced last January (at an Autism

Speaks event) it gives cause for some serious concern along with an

opportunity to shape something better.

First, the push behind the legislation played to organizations and

forces that have not been supportive of environmental research. While Sen.

Clinton has now mouthed (or issued in a press release) the words

" environmental reasons " one wonders who will shape the research. The jury is

out on who will control our research.

The development of this bill presents a new challenge to the autism

community to make sure the NIH pursues honest research informed by all that

has been discovered by DAN doctors and parents. Judging by what leaders of

the NIH have said recently, environmental factors are given lip service but

genetics is the main focus. I have no problem using genetic investigation to

unveil the clues to autism etiology, as long as genetics is not seen as the

" cause. " Genetics is a valid tool but a preconception that genetics has

caused autism infects most of the mainstream discussion. At most, genetics

is but an omnipresent factor - by our very nature genetics plays a role in

almost all disease. Genetics is a research tool, not the endgame in solving

etiology.

The question for research is: who controls the research. If the

control is multicentric and not only controlled by industry perhaps we will

get honest research.

As for the rest of Senator Clinton's bill, it poses major challenges

in how it addresses treatment and services. I advise every member of our

community to consider with care the language that requires development of a

" standard of care " using " evidence based " research. Our public health

establishment, dominated by industry that is more concerned about developing

pharmaceutical interventions rather than decreasing toxic environmental

exposures, controls the research agenda. The health care industry controls

the production of the evidence. The treatments sanctioned via this type of

legislation will be based on this " evidence. " This scenario could easily

presage the end of DAN! type treatments, because the type of evidence

supporting such treatments will never be produced by the NIH - pharma

industrial complex.

As for services, Sen. Clinton's bill is a start, but only a start. I

am concerned about the bill's prescription for centralization, and its bias

in favor of organizations that will provide assistance and resource centers,

even though these organizations have never provided services. The bill

promotes a centralized bureaucratic approach, creating a monolithic

public-private autism industry. We have learned that such approaches to

public health - massive infusions of cash to develop one size fits all

public health campaigns with designated gatekeepers of care - have not

served our children well.

Sen. Clinton's staff is savvy and undoubtedly committed to children's

health. Her staff has been very responsive to several of us (at A-CHAMP

Bobbie Manning and I have had continuing discussions since last December.)

They have evidenced a willingness to modify the bill's language. So, while I

am critical of many features of this bill I look at it as a beginning and an

opportunity. All members of the autism community need to voice their

concerns over this legislation or it will become the vehicle for control of

the autism industry by forces that do not care about alternative treatments,

DAN! type treatments, that will promote pharmaceutical interventions like

Risperdal that are dangerous for our kids, that will draw resources away

from the emerging non-pharmaceutical biomedical interventions that have

helped many kids, and will bury the idea that many cases of autism are the

product of vaccine injury.

This bill could be even more important than the Combating Autism Act.

Our community must learn the hard lessons we learned last year with CAA and

not permit one organization and one interest to orchestrate the agenda. We

must organize ourselves to stop this from happening.

On the services side, if we are not careful this bill could initiate

" Autism, Incorporated " and we can easily guess who will own the franchise

for this new enterprise. What we need are community-based programs

controlled by those directly affected, including the many local

organizations that now provide services, but desperately need more

resources. Mechanisms for decentralization and innovations are what is

needed, not developing a new public-private centralized industrial authority

that will control what happens to our children.

The challenge for us as a community is to take the opportunity that is

being provided and make sure that through focused advocacy we forge

legislation that will truly serve our children well. We must not settle for

something less because we are cowed by heavy-handed political expediency.

I say to my fellow advocates the following: now begins a renewed

opportunity to help our kids. We need to pursue this together, in a unified

fashion. If we don't then the big money boys will dominate once again. Our

kids will suffer as a result. Are you up for the challenge?

- J. Krakow, Esq.

Parent Co-Founder, A-CHAMP Co-Founder, Autism United Garden City,

New York

NOTE: The opinions expressed in COMMENTARY are those of the author and

not necessarily those of the Schafer Autism Report. Although here it comes

pretty close. -ed.

.. . .

LETTERS

Alcohol/autism

I would like to comment on the " Drinking linked to Autism " article. I

never consumed one drop of any alcohol while I was pregnant with my child

and he has autism. I was an occasional drinker and stopped in July 1991 when

I met my husband. I had our child in September 1992 and he has autism.

Drinking doesn't cause autism, Mercury does. When are the powers that

be going to admit that and move on to being responsible for the epidemic

that has been caused. I have researched mercury poisioning and the symptoms

of autism and it sure makes sense to me that that is the problem.

-Bonnie Hogard

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