1 in 36: ASD Rate Set a New Record High in 2016
By Mark Blaxill
The National Health Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) released its latest prevalence rate for autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) in American children this Wednesday. Their “data brief”, which is based on information gathered in the National Health Information Survey (NHIS), reported an ASD rate for 2016 of 2.76%, or 1 in 36 American children (1).
This is the highest rate ever recorded in a national survey of children in the United States and was an increase from the rate of 1 in 45 children (or 2.24%) reported in the 2014 NHIS survey (2). The ASD information reported in these surveys includes children between the ages of 3 and 17 years of age and any diagnosis of an autism spectrum disorder, including Asperger’s syndrome.
This startling new peak received virtually no media coverage and was downplayed by the NCHS, whose headline finding was that--despite setting a new American record with a 1 in 36 ASD rate: “There was not a statistically significant change in the prevalence of children ever diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder from 2014 to 2016.” (1)
Yet this new 2016 rate is a sharp increase from a highly similar 2007 report, the first year in which an NCHS survey included the question, “Has a doctor or health professional ever told you that [sample child] had Autism, Asperger’s disorder, pervasive developmental disorder, or autism spectrum disorder?” The 2007 report, also measuring the rate for 3-17 year-old children, reported an autism rate of 1.1%, or 1 in 91 American children (3).
The NCHS, like the CDC a department within the Department of Health and Human Services, follows a different methodology in the NHIS than the approach used by the CDC’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Network (ADDM), which last reported an autism rate of 1 in 68 American children for 8-year-olds born in 2004 (4). The ADDM network’s estimates likely include fewer children with Asperger’s (only about 10% of the ADDM cases have an Asperger’s diagnosis), which may explain why NHIS ASD rates have been generally higher than ADDM rates.
The ADDM Network has reported autism rates every two years with reports of 8-year-olds from 2000 to 2012 (4). The NHIS reports have been published only intermittently, with four different publications since 2007 (1-3, 5). Unlike the ADDM report, the NCHS publications have followed subtly different methodologies.
But an increase of 147% in less than a decade is certainly an urgent cause for concern: indeed, the new report also described another record rates for ASD of 1 in 28 (!) for boys born between 2014 and 2016. Because NCHS surveys include many children younger than 8 years of age, their ASD prevalence rates are likely understated, since many younger children don’t receive an autism diagnosis before they are 8 years old. The new report reflects this bias, since it shows an ASD rate of 1 in 45 children in the 3-7-year-old group, likely an underestimate of the true rate for that cohort.
On a personal note, it’s now almost exactly ten years since Dan Olmsted, Kim Rossi, JB Handley and I launched AgeofAutism.com in November, 2007. Soon after, when the NHIS survey came out reporting a 2007 autism rate that first breached the 1% barrier, my autistic child was barely a teenager and I remember thinking, “surely, we will begin to treat autism like a national emergency now that 1 in 91 children are affected.” A little less than a year ago, Dan passed away suddenly only a week after he and I finished writing Denial: How Refusing to Face the Facts about Our Autism Epidemic Hurts Children, Families, and Our Future, a title that reflected our shared sense of outrage over the denialism reflected so clearly in this new NCHS publication and its reception. My daughter turned 22 this week, formally passing the threshold of adulthood in the autism services system. And on the exact, same day she entered her adult program, we learned that ASD rates in American are approaching 3% of children and 4% of boys.
It was as if nothing has happened. The world has truly gone crazy.
References.
- Zablotsky B, Black LI, Blumberg SJ. Estimated prevalence of children with diagnosed developmental disabilities in the United States, 2014–2016. NCHS Data Brief, no 291. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2017.
- Zablotsky B, Black LI, Maenner MJ, Schieve LA, Blumberg SJ. Estimated prevalence of autism and other developmental disabilities following questionnaire changes in the 2014 National Health Interview Survey. National Health Statistics Reports: No 87. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2015.
- Kogan MD et al. Prevalence of parent-reported diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder among children in the US, 2007. Pediatrics 124(5):1395–403. 2009.
- Christensen DL, Baio J, Van Naarden Braun K, Bilder D, Charles J, Constantino JN, et al. Prevalence and characteristics of autism spectrum disorder among children aged 8 years––Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, 11 sites, United States, 2012. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 65(3):1–23. 2016.
- Blumberg SJ, Bramlett MD, Kogan MD, et al. Changes in prevalence of parent-reported autism spectrum disorder in school-aged U.S. children: 2007 to 2011–2012. National Health Statistics Reports; no 65. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2013.
Every increase in WiFi increases Autism.
www.emfscientist.org
Posted by: rkg | April 09, 2018 at 05:44 PM
Let's not ignore the fact that the same amount of aluminum that is in vaccines is also in all baby formula! Cover all the bases by going making the sacrifice of budgeting for organic food and formula and breast feeding when possible.
Posted by: Dwight | February 24, 2018 at 11:40 AM
Tripled the vaccines & now we have tripled the odds.😱😱😱
Posted by: Ceemee | January 09, 2018 at 11:59 PM
And yet the CDC says from that study, "During this same time, the prevalence of diagnosed autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disability did not change significantly" https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db291.htm
Posted by: Maria White | January 08, 2018 at 07:18 PM
Hi Christie,
Sorry to hear that your daughter regressed into severe autism, and even after you took the precaution not to vaccinate her. Yes, I am aware that vaccines are likely not the sole cause of autism, although the circumstantial and scientific evidence point to them as the biggest factor.
Christie, I don't mean to rant so much about parents not skipping vaccines, but about parents not doing the research. Even if a parent were to choose vaccine after exploring the vaccine-autism debate in depth, I would find that decision more respectful, and even if didn't agree with it. What I simply find inexcusable are the parents who aren't sober to the high risks of having a child with autism, and who fail to explore whether preventative steps can be taken, and even if that involves 'amusing' antivaxxers by lending them a ear.
Kind Regards, Greg
Posted by: Greg@Christie | December 16, 2017 at 07:28 PM
Posted by: Christie | December 13, 2017 at 06:18 PM
Don't forget mercury amalgams , fluoridated water , glyphosate , pesticides , fake foods (McD KFC).
The Rhogam shot is one to never forget too .
The VitaminK shot has its aluminium payload. Its written on the insert .
And is for the most part completely unnecessary when you weigh the 1 in 10,000 versus 1 in 36.
I have fully vaccinated child who is profoundly autistic.
The next was partially vaccinated and is fine as far as I can tell.
And a third completely unvaccinated who is also fine as far as I can tell.
I know other families with the exact same experience .
99% of autism is directly due to vaccination which is why they will not do the studies !
The intelligent doctors know exactly what is happening which makes them criminals.
Posted by: Hans Litten | December 14, 2017 at 06:13 AM
Greg, be a little kinder. My daughter began regressing into severe nonverbal autism at the age of 20 months and with the exception of getting the vitamin K shot was completely unvaccinated. We thought we were pretty safe. She is one of the most disabled in her special needs preschool. While vaccines are an issue there is obviously something else going on as well. GMO's maybe?
Posted by: Christie | December 13, 2017 at 06:18 PM
@ Ione Sky Hello! Good to see your comment. One of my best quotations was taken from you. Please keep it up !
Posted by: cherry Misra | December 04, 2017 at 07:49 AM
@ Alber, This is a good comment. Is it a quotation? Is it a printed rule..... that nobody follow?
Posted by: cherry Misra | December 04, 2017 at 07:48 AM
South Korea reported this level in 2011 - 1 in 38 - So I wonder what rate they have there now ?
And also I presume this level of 1 in 36 to likely be an under estimate .
36 in numerology is a very suspicious number , I hope this is just a number and not anything more.
The Stephanie Seneff projections look all to real.
50% of all children , and 80% of all boys looming large on the horizon.
I cannot understand why the US does not adopt the UK model ?
We have a complete and total news blackout on the subject, there are no statistics published.
The BBC is managing the vaccine holocaust perfectly.
Posted by: Hans Litten | December 04, 2017 at 06:22 AM
Seat belt scenario is it the buyer of the car or the car manufacturers fault that the belts never worked after being given assurances they did work and were completely safe.You only find out when its to late.
Pharma For Prison
MMR RIP
Posted by: Angus Files | December 04, 2017 at 03:22 AM
Bob Moffit you are absolutely right when you say that the national media is more interested in the latest politician or celebrity accused of sexual harassment. They should be reporting on the fact that it is now one in 36 with an autism diagnosis. The callous lack of interest in this human tragedy is a disgrace. Our children deserve to be recognized at the increasing numbers that are occurring. Without this admission of the truth of what is happening to an entire generation our children will continue to be ignored and there will be no hope of researchers out there trying to find a cure! My son was born in the mid 1980s and is one of the first casualties of the age of autism.
Posted by: Gayle | December 03, 2017 at 07:41 PM
Not statistically signficant?!! Bogus, statistical obfuscation, 94% level reached just say so, most scientist know exactly what that means! OK, "Harvard MD," did you read the data table? This should be rather clear.
Posted by: Reading is Fundamental | December 03, 2017 at 06:09 PM
Greg, I think maybe that younger parents as a whole feel rather more vulnerable to threats of CPS involvement (and likely forced vaccination anyway and maybe other risks to their children from that vector), so they might have that added incentive to just "believe the system is looking out for what's best."
Posted by: Jeannette Bishop | December 03, 2017 at 02:26 PM
Greg. I loved your post. If only all parents-to-be were like you and your wife. I do believe, however, that more are becoming aware.
The message is getting out, albeit slowly.
Posted by: susan welch | December 03, 2017 at 01:53 PM
Greg,
Thank you for writing in detail about your own journey. I also blame the parents. It has been almost twenty years since autism started making headlines everywhere, and for that entire time also a lot of scandals both real and manufactured. Anyone with half an ounce of common sense would realize that there's something up here and they'd better research vaccines very carefully before getting any. It's very very easy now to go to Amazon, type in vaccine, and then look at what you get and read the reviews. As on the Internet at large, every book about vaccines or autism gets dozens of paid pharma shills putting up nasty comments, but they are so transparently dishonest that SHOULD get parents' hackles up. And after that it's very very easy to read some of the books in the bibliographies of any book about vaccines and autism, look up some of the results on the Internet. NOT on Google, which has been corrupted so as to slant all results toward the pro-vax side and make it VERY challenging to get sources critical of vaccines. That's another shocking event that I don't think most people know about yet. Fortunately we still have many excellent books and easy access to them.
It CAN'T be that hard for people to understand that Pharma controls the practice of medicine, what doctors are taught and what they are encouraged or demanded to do. And CERTAINLY not that hard when the stakes are so high: your child's very life, health, and mind. Of COURSE it is abhorrent that our often-trusted authorities have betrayed us, but IT'S NOT THE FIRST TIME, now, is it? Adults have a responsibility to navigate the world with full awareness of the evil which lurks in the heart of men, and to protect their families from it.
The buck stops with the parents. They should NOT just believe what the doctor tells them, but research everything he/she says or wants them to do exhaustively before consenting. Trust must be earned. And be prepared to REFUSE to do what they don't think is in the best interests of their child. At this point, it is NOT acceptable to say Oh, but I believed what my doctor, TV, magazine, neighbor said and I did it. Your child's life is worth too much to let anyone else have this responsibility.
Posted by: cia parker | December 03, 2017 at 01:14 PM
Lonnie is right. The top item on the pharma agenda is to keep people believing the shots are safe so they keep getting them. All of them. Public schools get both local, state, and federal money. The damaged kids are there in unprecedented numbers, so everyone goes back and forth on what to do about them. The universal solution is the one-on-one paraprofessional who spends all day with the autistic student. Of course that takes big bucks, but it's better than any of the alternatives. They have no idea at all what to do with the autistic students beyond just constant supervision and damage control. But even just doing that is breaking the bank. I was told by an assistant autism resource management specialist that by LAW all students HAVE to use the same textbooks and instructional materials as others at their grade level do. So NO textbooks written at the comprehension level of a mentally retarded or autistic student. I was told several years ago that my autistic daughter couldn't be in special ed, because that class already had ten students and couldn't hold any more. I was told that my daughter was within the normal range of language. They did recognize that she was having meltdowns in class due to incomprehension, so they put her in the autism room only used for two hours a day for social skills instruction which required much more language than my daughter had. She was there all day with a para, and told to do work on PLATO, an online curriculum for typical students. She couldn't understand or do anything, but it took them four months to realize that, when she failed all the online tests. I took her out of school, although they said that they recommended calling in special enforcement to come to our house and physically force her to go to school. Why? $$$
I have said before that our speech therapist was on a public school committee which tasked her group with going over the ever-exploding list of autistic students enrolled in school and just cross out a given percentage of them. They were told that it was just too many. Operating on the premise that there has been no real increase, so it must be fraud or too generous diagnosis. She said it was unethical to try to use diagnostic criteria more stringent than that used at the state level, and resigned from her position.
A lot of people with children having problems comprehending and doing school work would be willing to have an autistic diagnosis placed on them, as it gives them things like extra time for taking tests. They can always say he recovered once he's trying to get into college, and extra time and different concessions might give him a leg up.
Schools will do what gets them money. They don't have to show any success in teaching autistic students, and don't even try. My daughter's current speech therapist at school said that the ONLY thing the public school was obligated to teach her was to say I want... and I need ... And then she's set for a long and successful life out in the world.
Expanding and contracting the definitions of autism confuses everyone, and that is its goal. One year Asperger's is excluded from the autism spectrum. The next year the DSM V is enacted and no longer includes aberrant or absent language development in the definition of autism. Just lack of normal SOCIAL language. This lets everyone think that autism is just an anxiety disorder, or social awkwardness. It used to be that it was only aberrant language and social relations, and fixation on non-functional obsessions. Then they added sensory sensitiveness, so that getting upset at noise or labels on their clothes which scratch them is added to the diagnostic criteria, obviously allowing many more to be diagnosed with autism.
The big picture is to both make people believe that autism has always been here at the same numbers and that in most cases it's no big deal. No one is going to remember what the criteria were five, ten, or twenty years ago, and how many were said to quality for the current diagnosis every year. Everyone has always wanted to believe that his current reality represents the pinnacle of civilization: no one in any previous time had citizens as intelligent, compassionate, and aware as the current one. So no one in the '60s was even aware that it was abnormal for children never to develop speech or to scream endlessly if he runs out of his favorite foods. Or they were so callous as to ship off all such children to farms in the country, institution paid for by unknown benefactors and whose locations and inmates have been completely lost to history. Because to believe otherwise would be too terrifying to entertain. It is completely contemptible on the part both of the puppet masters and those watching the show.
Posted by: cia parker | December 03, 2017 at 12:54 PM
Wow Greg; Your tale is wonderful.
Posted by: Benedetta | December 03, 2017 at 12:54 PM
Cia, I criticize those parents playing vaccine roulette with their kids not because I haven't been in their shoes; I have.
Working with special needs clients wasn't the instigator that led me to research the vaccine autism-connection, but when my wife became pregnant with our first child. We were both older, and I was quite nervous about having a child with a disability. I gasped at the figure that based on our ages, we had a 1 in 100 chance of having a child with Down's. I was fairly knowledge about Down's, but still thought to research it more, particularly screening for it. As for autism, I was even more nervous, knowing that it was actually a greater risk -- 1 in 88 back then.
Even though I worked in special needs, like most (including experts!) I didn't really know much about autism. Like Down's, I learned it was largely genetic, but this time there was a twist. There was an environmental trigger. I thought, what the hell was that and I decided to research more.
This research would lead me further into the vaccine controversy.
Prior to this, I really wasn't knowledgeable on all the details of the controversy, but that vaccines were being blamed for autism, and Wakefield started it. I decided then to learn more about Wakefield and his MMR study. Of course I encountered the usual bashings about how he was a crook who faked the findings, and, in fact, I was inclined to accept that narrative. I also read that the science was against Wakefield, disproving the vaccine-autism linked. so I also thought to brush up on it. Googling the research , I kept only seeing studies about MMR and thimerosal, and I thought there must be more about other vaccine and ingredients, but I really didn't make too much about this. I suppose I thought if I search harder I would find them. Still, throughout this inquiry, I felt something was amiss, and I wasn't being told the complete story. Just for 'fun' then, I thought I would have the 'antivaxxers' full take on things, but I was hesitant to visit sites branded as 'crank' such as AoA.
Anyway, I kept googling and it was then I started encountering the stories of parents reporting how their kids dramatically regressed into autism after vaccines. These were actually the 'holy shit' moments for me -- not Wakefield, not the scientific studies or lack there of, but those parents telling their stories. I did not for a moment entertain that the parents were lying or deranged. Which parent would make up such shit? Which parent would miss that their kid was really not doing so great all along? Which completely unvaxxed kid would have stopped making eye-contact, lost speech, and started flapping his hands out of the blue?
It was then that I decided to throw all caution to the wind and learn more from the 'quacks' at AoA. Reading the posts and comments here actually resulted in a 'fill in the puzzle' experience. For instance, I learned that there were no studies of other vaccines, and vaccine ingredients, or even an unvaxxed/vaxxed study. Anne Dachel's constant challenges about the missing middle-aged autistics real hit home. Why at the largest fitness/recreation institution for the disabled in my city, and where I take my clients, I will find the older members who are physically disabled, or 'slow', fitting the traditional definition of 'mentally retarded', but definitely not displaying any typical autistic traits. As for the younger members, you will find them to be non-verbal, flapping their hands, screaming, and mostly accompanied by attendants. Make no mistakes these individuals are autistic. To this day, I will point this observation out to colleagues, but for the most part it doesn't seem to phase them.
Cia, I don't mean to be this wordy, but I don't know what better way to express my dismay at today's parents that are such suckers with vaccines. How can they not reflect that they have a 1 in 68, or 1 in 45, or, now, 1 in 36 chance of having a disabled autistic child and not take whatever steps to prevent this. What harm is there in doing a little research, or even suspending their reservations for a moment and hear the 'antivaxxers' out. Yes, it is expected that pharma, gov't, and the msm will look out for their ends. It's actually unconscionable that these families don't do the same.
Posted by: Greg | December 03, 2017 at 10:30 AM
Lonnie;
Such a silly statement.
I have heard it so often. Even back in the mid 90s the evening news did such a evil segment, about parents getting their kids into special education so they would get a better education.
It kind of stunned me.
After an entire night of sleeplessness, and silence, the next morning I wrote them and told them then, that was just mean and insensitive - and victimizing the victims again. I never heard back from them though. Cause they were and are callous cowards.
Will we hear back from you Lonnie; and it be in the form of an apology?
In case you just confused about it. Here is some facts.
The DSM book 5; was rewritten in 2013.
DSM stands for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders . That is the psychologists bible and it is a guide to help them separates out brain injuries. They put brain injuries into categories according to the way the behaviors present.
2013 this book was changed to narrow, and not expand the definition of autism. Narrow - is opposite of expand.
The DSM Book did not touch the really disabled with classical autism. The DSM Book did not touch those that are very high functioning like aspergers. Both ends of the spectrum are not as many as those in the middle. Those in the middle is called PDD-NOS, that stands for Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified. It was the PDD-NOS that changed to reduce the number of kids with this in the middle autism diagnosis.
But these kids still have brain injuries that are still presenting and makes life hard. So, they are still falling into a bunch of other categories instead.
You can look up these catagories and see which ones you would perfer to live with for yourself, or a love one.
Posted by: Benedetta | December 03, 2017 at 09:37 AM
@ Lonnie
"Keep broadening the definition for more sweet govt special ed money and pretty soon it will be 1:2. When you expand the definitions of things more people will fit the definition."
I think you may be slightly confused ... it is our Public Health bureaucracies that ... "keep broadening the definitions of things" ... not parents seeking "sweet govt special ed money".
You should be blaming those most responsible for creating a spectrum for autism that is so broadly defined ... not parents.
My friend ... the autism spectrum remains so broadly ill-defined .. BECAUSE PUBLIC HEALTH OFFICIALS .. BEGINNING IN THE 1980'S .. HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO EXPLANATION FOR THE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF CHILDREN ON THE LOWER END OF THE SPECTRUM ... WHO "REGRESSED" AND LOST WHATEVER COMMUNICATION SKILLS THEY HAD JUST BEGUN TO DEVELOP.
If you want to believe the rise in children who "regressed" is primarily due to a "broader definition and better recognition" of autism .. you are welcome to your opinion .. but ... to suggest that parents of these children are just "seeking sweet gov't money" is despicable none the less.
Posted by: bob moffit | December 03, 2017 at 09:21 AM
Greg, and others who commented on his interesting point. I think one explanation for the complacency of so many parents could be that autism disproportionatly affects the brightest and best. The higher your IQ the more likely you are to have Aspergers for example. The young women (and soon young men) struck down by the HPV vaccines are nearly always exceptionally able in sport and other athletic activities. Joe and Joanne were the first to mock those with "yuppy flu" (ME) and are also scornful of the "absent minded professor" (intellectual with Aspergers). I have even seen the comment that those who have reactions to vaccines are "genetically inferior" and shouldn't be taken into consideration, when in reality it's those who can't survive mild childhood diseases who should not be setting the agenda for everyone else, in my opinion. I'm beginning to wonder if governments are expecting the survival of the fittest, in this case meaning those who can understand the science and see through the propaganda!
Posted by: Grace Green | December 03, 2017 at 08:37 AM
Lonnie. You would definitely benefit from reading 'Denial' by Dan Olmsted and Mark Blaxill. An excellent, extremely well researched book which covers the issue you raise of 'broadening the definition'.
Posted by: susan welch | December 03, 2017 at 04:45 AM
Lonnie
That is a repulsive suggestion. No parent would want to have their child labelled in this way unless they really did need the services. Nor does any government want to acknowledge cases (because then it has to pay for them).
Posted by: For Lonnie | December 03, 2017 at 03:54 AM
Behavioural economics .that graph looks like ,sounds like and reads like a "Malthusian Catastrophe"
Laissez-Faire deregulation of industry health and safety risk assessment standards with industry setting its own exam papers and awarding its own pass mark,is like giving a 12 year old a credit card and expecting them to be sensible and responsible with get what you need not what you fancy .
No problem with industy profits but not at the expense of public health and safety
Who is making the best interests decisions of vaccine benefits always outway the risks .
Social Darwinism Ideology of The old dog for the hard road and the pups for the pavement perhaps .
Frankfurt School Behindered /behinderte impediment .
Aktion T4 Tiergartenstrasse 4 Ein Bahn Strasse one way street with a dead end ?
Runrig Dance called America youtube
Posted by: Morag | December 03, 2017 at 03:15 AM
When is it going to be enough autism? This is eugenics. The medical field surely KNOWS vaccines cause autism. If the medical cartel was so sure vaccines aren't the cause, they'd be actively looking elsewhere for the tipping point. That is not happening.
Teachers are ill equipped to handle the crisis. Sick children aren't going to pay attention in class let alone learn much. Turnover for teachers is high enough, and let's spend more money on education to fix the problem. Yeah right....
Law enforcement? Are you kidding? They think autistic individuals are tripping out on PCP.
Posted by: Michael Potvin | December 03, 2017 at 02:34 AM
Keep broadening the definition for more sweet govt special ed money and pretty soon it will be 1:2. When you expand the definitions of things more people will fit the definition.
Posted by: Lonnie | December 03, 2017 at 12:29 AM
1 in 36 is the new rate of autism that previously has a rate of 1 in 10,000! Yet the NIH, CDC, and our government continue to ignore this abnormal situation. What is happening to our children is a crime against humanity and a tragedy that never should have occurred. We, the families, are now suffering because we trusted the doctors who injected our children with these poisonous vaccines. Trump talked about the vaccines while campaigning, but hasn't said a word about it since being in office. We, the families, are now left with the enormous responsibility of raising disabled children and worrying about what will happen to them when we are no longer here to take care of them. The focus now should be on finding a CURE and with all the technology we have I think it could be found if the research was started by the right people and not in ten years, but NOW!
Posted by: Gayle | December 02, 2017 at 11:30 PM
Greg,
I agree with you. It's not just the younger parents, but everyone. Everyone. At school, at church, my friends, at the store, my relatives, everyone CONTINUES to believe the pharma lies. I don't know why, the truth is so obvious. This is going to break our society. I also see sad stories about children recently reacting to vaccines in the ways they have since the vaccine epidemic started nearly thirty years ago. And I also think So why the hell did you do that to him? Are you --- blind? Deaf? Really it's their fault.
Posted by: cia parker | December 02, 2017 at 07:52 PM
@Greg,
Partially I agree with your comment, but please take into account that younger crops of parents are also brain damaged by vaccines. They may not be frankly autistic, but brain damaged they are. Hence the problem is exponentially magnified. This is a disaster and erasure of US future as a normal country. It will only regress. I mostly blame the criminal corrupt politicians, doctors, and media for this crime against humanity. Pharma mafia is pharma mafia, they are only after profits, but politicians, media and doctors are responsible for pushing vaccine poisons on ignorant masses. They are true evils.
Posted by: no-vac | December 02, 2017 at 06:21 PM
We issue a lot of blame for the autism epidemic to the usual suspects (pharma, government, msm, etc) but what about average-Joe or Joanne? What excuse do they have for not questioning the state of kids' health? They watch every second kid on their block now develop autism, and they don't ask why. If they do have kids of their own that happen to escape vaccine injury, they don't consider such things as why their child is now being cheated out of an education because 'provisions' must be made for a disruptive autistic child in the classroom. Neither do they consider what will hold for their kids' future in a world profoundly crippled caring for autism. Actually, an argument can be made that average 'head in the sand' Joe and Joanne deserve more of the blame. Pharma, government and msm could not get away with what they're doing without their ignorant complicity. Considering also that pharma, government, and msm are comprised of people, again we can see the autism crisis as due from individual citizens' failings.
Excuse me if this comes across as a little insensitive, but I am starting to find it a little hard sympathizing with the younger crop of autism parents that got burned rolling the vaccination dice. With all the information now available on the internet, there is simply no excuse for these parents not to better research vaccines, and exercise critical thinking. The older autism parents never had 1 in 36 autism, 1 in 10 ADHD, 1 in 6 developmental disability, CDC Whistleblower, Vaxxed, and so on, but the younger crop of parents do. There is simply no excuse for these parents not to be better stewards of the their kids' health -- and by so doing, also safeguard the health of their communities.
Posted by: Greg | December 02, 2017 at 05:23 PM
Susan, I hear you. Anyone in education knows that we are already in major crisis. ESL population has exploded with ADHD, autism, and educators know the number to be somewhere closer to 1:23 for autism spectrum. It is massively unsustainable and yet even Trump has done nothing. I simply cannot believe the congressional hearings from years ago (Burton et al) have languished. Threats, bribes, even worse account for that.
Posted by: False scientists | December 02, 2017 at 01:48 PM
2nd that
"I am furious. When my son was diagnosed we were told by a leading pediatric neurologist that he was "1 in 10,000" - now the rate is 1 in 36!"
Pharma for Prison
MMR RIP
Posted by: Angus Files | December 02, 2017 at 01:14 PM
What is the process to file a claim citing Crimes Against Humanity?
As our children age, so do we, mostly single parent caregivers. We cannot trust anyone really to help us for fear our kids will be harmed or worse.
The 24/7 stress of "what if something happens to me?" has to change. I am trying really hard to shift my mindset and focus on the little miracles each moment can be.
Unfortunately, reality bites. I contacted another specialist last week, someone who is supposed to be one of the best bi-med doctors out there. He wants $600 for a first 1 hour visit, no insurance accepted.
The entire system is broken.
Posted by: Andrea M Clarke | December 02, 2017 at 01:12 PM
THANK you for this! Autism has long been known to be a condition of ELEVATED SEROTONIN yet there has been little to no warning to pregnant women being given "medications" which increase serotonin, nor warnings given to 63% of the parents of Autistic children who unknowingly give these same drugs to their children which will certainly only perpetuate their symptoms of Autism. The most popular of those drugs being antidepressants or the new atypical antipsychotics so often passed off as sleeping pills or for behavior control. (Please remember that 90% of serotonin is in the gut which is why there are so many gut issues among these children.)
When research has shown a child's chances of Autism will jump by 2 - 3 or even 4 times the average rate if the mother takes one of these drugs during pregnancy good luck getting media anywhere to warn the public of that!
On top of all that there is little to no warning of the fact that these drugs are extremely difficult to withdraw from unless you know to take months, or depending upon the length of use, years, to wean very gradually off so as not to trigger a psychotic break. All these chemicals are accumulating at very high rates in the brain affecting behavior long after exposure. But I would not continue to fight the battle for truth about all this as I have for 3 decades if I had no hope for recovery for those going through this.
As I have said for two decades, this country is in the middle of a national holocaust & they do not even see it!
Ann Blake-Tracy, Executive Director,
International Coalition for Drug Awareness, www.drugawareness.org
Posted by: Ann Blake-Tracy | December 02, 2017 at 11:19 AM
@Barry - "only a totally bought off Mainstream Media can cover this up - and they have"
There's plenty of blame to go around. Our outrage should be directed towards more than just the media - starting with Big Pharma.
We also have totally bought off Congress that ignores the autism issue - I had hoped that when Republicans controlled the White House, the Senate, and the House, and the Supreme Court, that they could actually get something done on this issue. They have the power. They deserve our outrage. (Full disclosure - I'm a political independent and have been most of my life)
I don't understand why Trump has ignored his promises and appointed pro-vaxxers to the HHS (first Tom Price, now Alex Azar), the FDA (Scott Gottlieb), and CDC (Brenda Fitzgerald). He's not beholden to Pharma. He campaigned as an outsider who would "drain the swamp" and yet he has stocked it with new alligators. Why isn't he getting some of this outrage? Since his campaign he hasn't said anything about autism.
Finally, the vocal neurodiversity movement deserves blame and outrage - they have co-opted almost every major autism organization, control the IACC, have derailed search for a cure, and have somehow deluded the public into thinking that autism is a difference, rather than a disability.
I am furious. When my son was diagnosed we were told by a leading pediatric neurologist that he was "1 in 10,000" - now the rate is 1 in 36!
Posted by: Aimee Doyle | December 02, 2017 at 10:24 AM
Not statistically signficant?!! Bogus, statistical obfuscation, 94% level reached just say so, most scientist know exactly what that means! I’ve never heard of prevalence studies reporting statistical significance, yet I suspect had the rate fallen a bit some media would pick it up with glee.
Silence also from MSM on the high levels of aluminum in autistic brain sample- all the same week!
Yet my family is worried about fake news in alt media, they don’t get that when it comes to LIFE and DEATH issues, the MSM have consistently FAILED. Most under-reported story (after anything relevant to autism and vaccines): lead water levels greater than Flynt, MI in 3500 US communities-silence!
Loved your lastest book, Mark & Dan!
Posted by: Harvard MD | December 02, 2017 at 09:24 AM
As an Occupational therapist of 32 years, this is sickening to me that my job is secure and well because of the very medical field creating the damaged need. Things have truly changed in the field. We can barely keep up. So many people are working towards awareness but I feel so discouraged day to day.
Posted by: Susan | December 02, 2017 at 08:39 AM
Only a totally bought-off Mainstream Media can cover this up --- and they have.
************
Nothing new there David.
There's not a single person here, who vaccinated their children because a review of the science convinced them that vaccines were effective and safe.
The reason we all have vaccine disabled children... is that we all believed the vaccine lie, that the media has been telling us since the 50"s.
Posted by: Barry | December 01, 2017 at 09:48 PM
As before, the USA is a bit like the “Sound of Music” without the music. The “brown shirts in white coats” are everywhere, they know exactly what they have done, and show no signs of stopping until they conquer the world with vaccines.
So much simpler and less messy than what they were doing 75 years ago...
Posted by: go Trump | December 01, 2017 at 09:43 PM
This is a link to the full document:
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db291.pdf
If the ratio of boys to girls is consistent across all age groups then one in twenty three boys aged eight to twelve has autism.
The increase over two years ago is not considered significant because it is only 94% certain.
And one of the greatest tragedies of human history continues unabated without any concern from health authorities.
Posted by: Science is pure. People are corrupt. | December 01, 2017 at 06:21 PM
Mark, Despite you and Mark exhaustively covered in your book Age of Autism, toxic (ethyl)-mercury is still in yearly flu vaccines, and is destroying our infants through seniors. Yet, the CDC keeps lying and saying ethylmercury in harmless.
Only a totally bought-off Mainstream Media can cover this up --- and they have.
Posted by: david m burd | December 01, 2017 at 05:32 PM
Mark and everyone at AoA.
Thank you so much for the hard work and dedication to this entire movement/issue. Recently I read that the stats of children two years of age that are on the spectrum in the CA Bay Area, are 1-in-8. Do you know if this is true? It ran across my newsfeed on Facebook, and I clicked out of the page by accident before seeing who or what group posted it.
Kindly,
Sandy Bergman
Posted by: Sandy Bergman | December 01, 2017 at 05:01 PM
Indeed ... "the world has truly gone crazy".
Only in our crazy .. insane public health world .. would Congress refuse to hear public testimony of Dr. William Thompson .. the CDC whistleblower who reported a significant increase risk of autism for black children .. and .. the deliberate "cover-up" of high level CDC officials who destroyed evidence of that significant increase risk.
Just curious ... does ANY of the various agencies .. NCHS, NHIS, ADDM, etc .. have autism prevalence rates according to race ... that would confirm Dr. Thompson's "significant higher risk to black children"?
It's probably just silly old me ... but ... the latest record high of 1 IN 36 children being diagnosed with autism ... deserves far more urgent national media coverage .. such as .. SCREAMING HEADLINES .. than the latest media celebrity or politician accused of sexual harassment.
Posted by: bob moffit | December 01, 2017 at 04:59 PM
Sadness. And all that Orwellian Double Speak. The sinister force at work is pervasive and relentless.
I will Pray Big.
Posted by: Ione Skye | December 01, 2017 at 04:46 PM
The world has gone crazy. I am outraged and profoundly sad. Thank you Mark. I have relied on you to let me know what is going on for over a decade. Now my adopted son is 26 and I am turning 76. My son has been accepted for services in California. Thank God and all the people who helped me get the services.
How can we provide for all these children and increasingly adults. ?
Posted by: Anna Quandt | December 01, 2017 at 04:27 PM
When an activity raises threats of harm to human
health or the environment, precautionary
measures should be taken even if some cause
and effect relationships are not fully established
scientifically.
Posted by: Alber | December 01, 2017 at 04:15 PM
If we assume the trend will continue and it seems it. will we will be soon approaching 1 in 20 boys.
If we say 10 cases of mild brain injury for 1 more serious case that gets a autism diagnosis we will soon have 1 boy out of 2 with brain damage if we aren't there already.
I can't see how a society could function like this.
Posted by: Hans | December 01, 2017 at 03:32 PM