The Autism Wars - NYT

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The Autism Wars

By AMY HARMON

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/08/sunday-review/the-autism-wars.html

THE report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that one in

88 American children have an autism spectrum disorder has stoked a

debate about why the condition's prevalence continues to rise. The

C.D.C. said it was possible that the increase could be entirely

attributed to better detection by teachers and doctors, while holding

out the possibility of unknown environmental factors.

But the report, released last month, also appears to be serving as a

lightning rod for those who question the legitimacy of a diagnosis whose

estimated prevalence has nearly doubled since 2007.

As one person commenting on The New York Times's online article about it

put it, parents " want an 'out' for why little ny is a little hard to

control. " Or, as another skeptic posted on a different Web site, " Just

like how all of a sudden everyone had A.D.H.D. in the '90s, now everyone

has autism. "

The diagnosis criteria for autism spectrum disorders were broadened in

the 1990s to encompass not just the most severely affected children, who

might be intellectually disabled, nonverbal or prone to self-injury, but

those with widely varying symptoms and intellectual abilities who shared

a fundamental difficulty with social interaction. As a result, the

makeup of the autism population has shifted: only about a third of those

identified by the C.D.C. as autistic last month had an intellectual

disability, compared with about half a decade ago....

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but see also:

A Positive Association found between Autism Prevalence and Childhood

Vaccination uptake across the U.S. Population.

Delong G.

J Toxicol Environ Health A. 2011 Jan;74(14):903-16.

pdf here: http://tinyurl.com/3p2cd5z

Do aluminum vaccine adjuvants contribute to the rising prevalence of autism?

Tomljenovic L, Shaw CA.

J Inorg Biochem. 2011 Nov;105(11):1489-99.

pdf here: http://omsj.org/reports/tomljenovic%202011.pdf

Infant mortality rates regressed against number of vaccine doses

routinely given: is there a biochemical or synergistic toxicity?

NZ, Goldman GS.

Hum Exp Toxicol. 2011 Sep;30(9):1420-8.

pdf here: http://het.sagepub.com/content/30/9/1420.long

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