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There is not only a money issue at stake with the issue of
vaccines continuing to be used while the Thimerosal controversy is
debated as research continues. There is an issue of what Autism
Spectrum Disorders are costing, and are going to cost, the United
States as the decades roll by, as well. What kind of numbers are we
looking at this epidemic costing the nation over the next few years?
What kind of money is Autism costing us now?
The estimated cost, according to Congressman Burton, to support
an individual with Autism from diagnosis to death is $5 million PER
PERSON. At the current rate of an estimated 1 in 400 children
diagnosed with Autism and extrapolating these figures out, using the
census figures from 2000, and using the age group of over three
enrolled in school through grade 12, would mean there are
approximately 150,000 children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder. The
total cost at this time to support these children into adulthood
until death would be $750 billion dollars. If you extend these
figures out, and arbitrarily pick a figure of 1 in 150 children
diagnosed with Autism, which may be a conservative estimate of the
increase in the epidemic, then there is a population base of 400,000
Autistic people waiting on the horizon of our society. At the
current cost, which would undoubtedly rise over time and would be a
conservative estimate now, the cost to support these individuals
will be $2 trillion. And these are very conservative estimates, as
Congressman Burton believes the current population of Autistic
Spectrum Disorder children to be more in the 415,000-population base
already. The cost to our society and to families and to the
individuals is staggering. And the question has to be asked: How
will this ever be paid for?
And what about research dollars? According to Congressman Burton
there are approximately the same number of people in the United
States that are HIV positive as there are with an ASD. However the
research dollars are not standing behind the immenseness of this
epidemic. No one would ever want dollars removed from HIV/AIDS
research. That is untenable. But the bottom line in research as
stated in the June hearing is that there is $7,000 spent per person
on research dollars for AIDS. There is $140 dollars spent for each
child with Autism.
It is true increases in research funding are planned. However
they do not come close to other epidemics or diseases in population
base and incidence. There is also an ethics issue because of the
involvement of the pharmaceutical industries who seem to be
unwilling to approach the idea of a potential problem with vaccines.
If it is Thimerosal, then it is a toxic substance and the question
will have to be asked: Did anyone know? If they did know, what then
should be done? Why not plunge headfirst into this research to
discover the cause to reduce ultimately the cost to not only
individual corporations but to our society.
If Congressman Burton is right, and he firmly believes he is, and
Thimerosal is the root of the evil we are facing, not recalling the
lots of vaccines out in the "real world" will potentially turn
17,520 more children Autistic in the next three years. He is
concerned that the FDA is turning a blind eye to this issue and he
has the support of many many parents and researchers in the Autism
community.
He says he doesn't know anything about any of this scientific
"stuff" and that he is just a grandfather with an Autistic grandson.
But it should never be forgotten he is a grandfather who is the
Chair of the Committee of Government Reform and he does have the
ability to subpoena. And he isn't backing down.
Next page >
What
is the Hole in the Statistics of Autism? > Page
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