(Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Dr. Renee Tocco, founder of Hope For Autism.)
Several years ago, the autism epidemic became so real to me that to this day, people mistake me for the parent of a child on the spectrum. Until the reality of autism came knocking on my door, I was like most Americans – oblivious to the silent epidemic that is stealing a substantial part of a generation of children. In retrospect, I suppose I was always destined to dedicate my life to this field.
In the late 1970s my parents began to research childhood vaccines and made the informed choice to not vaccinate. Even then, they predicted our society would witness first-hand the consequences of a theory implemented without the science to validate its safety and efficacy. But never did they imagine the illness of autism spectrum disorders, which now shadow the lives of millions of American families.
Today autism, a once rare disorder, affects an alarming number of children. In the past two decades the prevalence of autism has reached epidemic proportions in our country. A study released in December 2009 by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported that autism prevalence has increased from the 1994 rate of 1 in 150 to 1 in 110 for children born in 1998. This is a staggering 57% increase in just four years. More children are diagnosed with autism than cancer, diabetes and AIDS combined. It is indeed the greatest pediatric healthcare concern of the times.
While those on the autism spectrum suffer with sometimes debilitating deficiencies, such as nutritional and immune, the whole country seems to suffer with an equally worrisome deficiency – of education, resources and hope. It is this deficiency that causes parents to not know about, or be reluctant to try the therapies and treatments that have been reported by thousands of other parents to have improved or even recovered their child from autism. I once heard of a doctor in my hometown telling parents to be aware of healthcare professionals that did things like recommend the GFCF diet – “Doctors like that are probably just trying to take your money.” I guess I’m still waiting on the commission checks to come in from those I’ve shared that concept with.
It is a crime that parents are deterred from the some of the most effective treatments and deprived of all hope. All for the sake of protecting the claim that autism is genetic and not physiologically based. There is an obvious plot to deter all attention from the environmental causes; might these causes be incriminating? Instead medicine as a whole makes blanket statements and repeats the same rhetoric time and again. If you tell a lie enough times, even you will believe it is real and Americans seems to be under this dangerous spell. Yes, I am afraid we have an epidemic of ignorance and denial and the victims are the innocent children of our country.
The next Hope For Autism Conference, designed for doctors and families, is April 23 – 25, 2010 in Atlanta, GA. Please visit www.hopeforautism.us for more information and to register.
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Thanks for the post Brandon and thanks goes to Dr. Tocco for the work she is doing for the children of the world.