Word: healthfulness
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Experts note that the CDC database - the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network (ADDM) - is the closest thing to an ideal measure of autism's prevalence. The data are culled from assessments made by health or developmental professionals, including pediatricians, psychologists and language and speech pathologists. In previous evaluations, autism estimates were based on less reliable parental reporting of symptoms or diagnoses...
...improved awareness and diagnosis of the disorders. Increased access to special education classes and other therapies may also be inflating the numbers, as educators and parents enroll more children in hopes of optimizing their learning environment. Indeed, CDC researchers found that among sites where they had access to both health and education records, the prevalence of ASD was higher on average than in sites where only health information was available...
...might be responsible, some experts caution that such changes happen over time, far too slowly to explain the recent rise in autism. "When you see an increase like this, you have to think it's an environmental issue," says Dr. Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health and chair of the NIH's interagency autism coordinating committee...
...latest statistics underscore the looming public health problem that autism has become, and highlight the urgent need for research on causes and treatments, as well as better support services for families caring for autistic children. The CDC considers ASDs a significant public health concern, says Rice, and researchers across the country continue to discover new genes associated with the condition. But for advocates of families affected by autism, the efforts are still not enough. "We are really seeing exciting things happening, but the pace is too slow, it just doesn't measure up to the size of the crisis," says...
...still spends billions every year on disability payments to those who served in Vietnam - including their children, many of whom are suffering from dioxin-associated cancers and birth defects. In October, the Department of Veterans Affairs added leukemia, Parkinson's and a rare heart disease to the list of health problems associated with Agent Orange. Yet U.S. official policy maintains that there is no conclusive evidence that the defoliant caused any health problems among the millions of exposed Vietnamese or their children...