Lawmakers Call For Bush Autism Conference

Lawmakers Call For Bush Autism Conference

July 24, 2003-
MARK BENJAMIN
United Press International WASHINGTON, Jul 23, 2003 (United Press International via COMTEX) --

Lawmakers, researchers and parents Wednesday called on President Bush toconvene a conference of health experts to tackle ballooning autism ratesamong American children.

Recent reports suggest as many as 1 out of every 150 American kids may havethe disease - up from 1 in 10,000 just a decade ago - in an epidemiclaying siege to American families that could cost the American economy between $200 and $400 billion by 2010, according to autism supportgroups. A group of lawmakers said Wednesday that Bush should convene theconference because U.S. health agencies have so far failed to investigate the epidemic. "I feel very strongly that NIH [the National Institutes of Health]and the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] have failed todo the necessary research," said Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Fla., a physician.

Indiana Republican Rep. Dan Burton, whose grandson has autism, and OhioRep. Dennis Kucinich, a Democratic presidential candidate, also called onBush to ratchet up government work on autism.

"It is time for a White House conference on autism," saidKucinich. Kucinich said 1.5 million Americans might suffer from thecondition. The White House did not return a phone call seeking comment on the issue.
A panel of researchers discussed possible environmental causes for theepidemic, including mercury exposure from vaccines. The mercury-basedadditive called thimerosal was particularly prevalent during the 1990's
-- when vaccine doses for children doubled and autism rates skyrocketed. "As a physician, I am particularly concerned about the safety of ourvaccine supply," Weldon said.

Doctors discussed studies that appear to show that children with autismmay not be able to secrete mercury, poisoning them, and discussedresearch that appears to show a correlation between increasing exposure to mercury from vaccines and rising brain problems in children. Some doctors expressed anger at government health experts who they saidare ignoring the problem. Government health agencies set childhoodvaccination schedules.

"What we have here are some bureaucrats who want to keep this undercover," said Boyd Haley, chairman of the Chemistry Department at theUniversity of Kentucky.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in June 2000 called forthe removal of thimerosal from vaccines "because any potential riskfrom mercury is of concern." But the agency said, "However, there remains no convincing evidence of harm caused by low levels ofthimerosal in vaccines." In October 2001, an Institute of Medicine panel found that it is "biologically plausible" that thimerosal causes autism, butthat, "current scientific evidence neither proves nor disproves alink." Vaccine manufacturers say their products are likely not to blame.

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