President Obama Continues Autism Hope, Signs Combating Autism Reauthorization Act Into Law

Autism hope for the future lies in autism research and the US leads the world in autism research.  

I can not say it often enough. Thank you America. Thank you President Obama.  

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Autism Research Leadership: Katie Wright Rips the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee and Dr. Tom Insel

Katie Wright has written a hard hitting piece,"Can You Hear Me Now?", on the role of the IACC and Dr. Tom Insel in preventing funding of meaningful vaccine autism studies including the comparative study of vaccinated and unvaccinated populations. The article was written for SafeMinds and reprinted with permission at Age of Autism. Ms Wright calls for Secretary Sebelius "to investigate Dr. Insel’s actions and reinstatement of vaccine objectives that were removed under false premises in January from the IACC’s Strategic Plan. "

It will be interesting to see whether President Obama and Secretary Sebelius respond to the SafeMinds/Katie Wright request. Given Secretary Sebelius statements about the safety of the as yet untested Swine Flu vaccine and thimerosal it does not seem likely that the Obama administration will conduct a critical examination of the IACC and Dr. Insel's leadership on vaccine and autism issues.

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President Obama Requests Autism Research Dollars, Let's Hope Some Is for Environmental Autism Research

President Barack Obama has requested $211 million as part of the Department of Health and Human Services budget for autism research and services. Let's hope a substantial portion of the research is directed towards environmental research, including possible vaccine causes, and for treatments. The "it's gotta be genetic model" of autism research funding identified by Teresa Binstock in 1999 has ignored the environmental component of autism causation referenced on several occasions by Simon Baron Cohen. The notion that this complex condition is entirely genetic was never evidence based.

Hopefully President Obama will not let the IACC continue its shenanigans. Hopefully he will ensure that funding is set aside out for vaccine autism research as recommended by Dr. duane Alexander, Dr Bernadine Healy and Dr Julie Gerberding amongst others AND FOR ALL OTHER appropriate environmental autism research.

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For Autism President Obama Is The Leader Canada Needs

Canadians generally prefer US President Barack Obama over Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper as shown in a poll reported on Seattle PI:

A new national Ekos Poll gives U.S. President Barack Obama an 81 percent approval rating among Canadians, more than twice the favorable rating of Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

The poll of 1,000 Canadians, conducted Jan. 15-17, found that only 35 percent of those surveyed approve Harper's performance in office, compared to 55 percent who disapprove.

There are too many striking differences between the charismatic, high minded, non-partisan President Obama and the narrow minded, partisan Prime Minister Harper to begin to list them all in a simple blog commentary. This blog though is about autism and the differences are shown clearly in the two leaders aproaches to dealing with the autism crisis confronting our countries.

President Obama sought input from all sources on autism using modern internet communications technologies and he has committed to helping Americans with autism. Prime Minister Harper held a closed door "symposium" which intentionally excluded advocates for evidence based autism treatment for all Canadians. Unlike Mr. Obama, Mr. Harper refuses to commit to helping Canadians with autism preferring to hide behind irrelevant Constitutional jurisdiction arguments. (The Canada Health Act exists despite such arguments).

President Obama's autism commitments as set out on the official White House site:

Autism

President Obama and Vice President Biden are committed to supporting Americans with Autism Spectrum Disorders (“ASD”), their families, and their communities. There are a few key elements to their support, which are as follows:

• First, President Obama and Vice President Biden support increased funding for autism research, treatment, screenings, public awareness, and support services. There must be research of the treatments for, and the causes of, ASD.
• Second, President Obama and Vice President Biden support improving life-long services for people with ASD for treatments, interventions and services for both children and adults with ASD.
• Third, President Obama and Vice President Biden support funding the Combating Autism Act and working with Congress, parents and ASD experts to determine how to further improve federal and state programs for ASD.
• Fourth, President Obama and Vice President Biden support universal screening of all infants and re-screening for all two-year-olds, the age at which some conditions, including ASD, begin to appear. These screenings will be safe and secure, and available for every American that wants them. Screening is essential so that disabilities can be identified early enough for those children and families to get the supports and services they need.

I don't suppose our American friends would consider trading leaders?

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