Action Alert: Congress Passes Ineffectual Autism Research Bill
From Autism Action Network:
Take Action: Congress, what are you going to do now?
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Congress passes autism research bill
Last night the Senate passed by unanimous consent the re-authorization of the former Combating Autism Act (House Resolution HR 4631.) It allows $260 million per year for the next five years to be spent on research related to autism. The bill now goes to President Obama.
Now that Congress has passed the bill and President Obama’s signature is a certainty, please click on the Take Action link to send a message to your two US Senators and your member of the US House of Representatives asking them what they are going to do about the many problems with the federal autism research program that to date has yet to yield anything of use to people with autism and their families.
Our criticism of the bill is straightforward: the money to date has been misspent, and the overall level of effort is paltry compared to the scope of the epidemic. According to the CDC there are 1 million people in the US with ASD and the same number infected with HIV/AIDS. Unlike autism, official medicine knows the cause of AIDS, effective prevention methods are known, and highly effective treatments are available as well, yet we are still spending more than 10 times as much on HIV/AIDS research as autism. The Government Accountability Office issued a report showing that 84% of autism research is potentially duplicative. The epidemiology done by the CDC is designed not to be able to answer the obvious question: “Is the autism rate going up?” And we are spending eight times as much on dead-end genetic research than finding environmental causes.
In a nod to neurodiverse political correctness the bill was given the idiotic name of Autism Collaboration, Accountability, Research, Education, and Support Act of 2014 or the Autism CARES Act of 2014. Giving a name that ascribes human emotion to a disabling disorder tells us a great deal about the level of concern and debate about autism in Congress. Perhaps in the next authorization they will come up with a cuddly mascot to represent autism. Autism Speaks could hold a contest with fabulous prizes for the winning designer of a suitably benign character.
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I'm not American. But surely a democratic country could pioneer the idea that the people affected by a condition, and their families, should have some input into what research is carried out? Otherwise, inevitably, large amounts of the money voted will pay the mortgages of research scientists, but have little other good effect.
Posted by: Sandra | August 03, 2014 at 10:57 AM
We are disappointed that the bill is spending such a paltry amount on autism research? Yet, if the cause of autism is already known wouldn't it be wiser to spend a token amount, simply to keep the side-show going?
Posted by: Greg | August 02, 2014 at 04:20 PM
"Last night the Senate passed by unanimous consent the re-authorization of the former Combating Autism Act (House Resolution HR 4631.) It allows $260 million per year for the next five years to be spent on research related to autism. The bill now goes to President Obama."
Imagine that .. a "unanimous consent" vote .. allowing ..ANOTHER $260 MILLION PER YEAR FOR THE NEXT FIVE YEARS TO BE SPENT ON RESEARCH RELATED TO AUTISM.
Talk about throwing the public's money down the proverbial "rat hole" of failed research .. that hasn't produced anything of substantive value .. with the BILLION dollars already squandered.
Hope all these Senators have a nice vacation ...
AND THE BAND PLAYS ON ...
Posted by: BoB Moffitt | August 02, 2014 at 07:29 AM