By Aimee Swartz

Swartz presents a general definition that doesn't come close to what hundreds of thousands of victims live with. She doesn't say a word about regression autism, where healthy, normal kids suddenly lose everything and end up with multiple health issues. A third of children on the spectrum are reported to have experienced regression. A third. That should be a study in itself.

And in case you're wondering why there's so much autism, it's because we put a lot of disabled people under the label of ASD. Swartz cites sibling adults with autism, ages 26 and 21, but no one middle aged or elderly.

People with autism engage in repetitive or obsessive actions and interests, struggle to communicate and have difficulty relating to others and to the world around them. But the exact features of the disorder, as well as its severity, can vary significantly. That’s why autism, now diagnosed in one in every 68 children in the United States, is no longer considered one condition but rather a spectrum of related but distinct disorders.

Swartz is out to convince us that autism is a genetic condition. She describes a huge genome research project seeking clues to the cause.

In the short term, this will allow researchers to begin to identify genetically defined subtypes of autism. Grouping and comparing individuals with similar genetic changes could yield clues about a person’s future prognosis and the health complications, such as seizures, gastrointestinal problems and schizophrenia, that are associated with certain subtypes. In the longer term, says the study’s leader, Wendy Chung, director of Columbia University’s clinical genetics program, SPARK’s findings could lead to individualized treatment options, from medicines to behavioral interventions, that take into account the disorder’s genetics.

There is a vague, five sentence reference to the environment, while still emphasizing genetics.

Of course, genes alone aren’t to blame. The same family studies that demonstrate autism’s genetic basis also confirm that factors other than genetics, collectively referred to as “the environment,” play a role. “If genetics were the only factor that determined whether a child develops autism, two identical twins, who share the exact same DNA, would always either both have autism or both not have autism,” says Raphael Bernier, an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Washington in Seattle. He says autism is caused by a combination of genetics and a “vast array” of environmental factors—from a child’s exposure to certain toxins to overweight parents.

“Our best guess is that in many individuals, autism is caused by genes interacting with not only other genes but with an unknown number of potential environmental factors too,” says Bernier, whose clinic is participating in SPARK. But which environmental factors actually contribute to autism and by how much remain a hotly debated question SPARK hopes to answer.

Notice that no one wants to PREVENT autism.

Watch the video and learn about Columbia University's autism genetics program, called SPARK, from the director, Wendy Chung.

"We went to speed up research in our understanding of autism to help improve lives." Chung is interested in the "causes" of autism. She want to find ways to treat autism.

"We simply don't know enough about autism right now, but SPARK will change that." Chung is looking for test subject volunteers. SPARK will take saliva samples from participants to study their genes.

"You hold the power in shaping the future of autism research."

Actually the "future of autism research" is a dead-end. No one wants any significant findings. SPARK is more pretend science, or what I like to call "autism busywork"

 My posted comment:

Wendy Chung needs to view a film that exposes a massive CDC cover-up of evidence linking the MMR vaccine to the development of autism.  

The new movie, "Vaxxed--From Cover-Up to Catastrophe,"  http://vaxxedthemovie.com/  is showing in hundreds of cities across the U.S. It's about a senior scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. William Thompson, who revealed through a number of recorded phone conversations, that "senior people [at CDC] just do completely unethical, vile things and no one holds them accountable.”

Thompson described the standard practice at the CDC of designing vaccine safety studies that cover up any signs of vaccine side effects, especially any connection to autism.

Anne Dachel, Media editor: Age of Autism