mlwear
06-05-2006, 10:48 AM
I'm going to post this in the lounge, also, given the time constraint.
I don't know that I, personally, agree with everything they are asking for in this bill and will still decide if and what I will write. But, I know some on this board would like to see this passed and am giving you the information I received. I plan to research it further before adding my support.
Parents, Grandparents and Friends,
the final push for the Combating Autism Bill
has begun!
We have only two weeks to influence Senators about what we want in the Bill!
Background: As you know, the autism groups in the community wrote and reached consensus on a new Combating Autism Bill in December which was presented to Senators in early January. The plan was to substitute our bill for the old Combating Autism Bill.
Senators have since been working on the language. We have been following their progress with great interest all spring, and have heard that the senators expect to present a new version of the CAA Bill to the HELP Committee in the next couple of weeks.
The next two weeks are critical because members are expected to tackle the most important issues before the end of June.
NOW IS THE TIME TO TAKE ACTION:
- WE ARE CONCERNED that the language the community wants will be removed from the new bill.
- Specifically, we fear the environmental language will get deleted and that the money we have earmarked for the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences could be cut.
- It's imperative to get your help right away. We need you to put pressure on the HELP Committee – particularly four Senators – to make sure THE LANGUAGE WE WANT STAYS.
WHAT WE WANT:
We want the Combating Autism Bill to pass the way we want it. Let’s let them know:
- We want the $6 million solely devoted to the NIEHS every year for the next five years.
- We defend the $44 million allocated to Autism Centers of Excellence and NIH Environmental Research Centers every year for the next five years.
- We want the environmental research language to stay in the bill as written:
Autism Centers of Excellence-
'(1) IN GENERAL- In carrying out subsection (a)(1), the Director of NIH shall award grants and contracts to public or nonprofit private entities to pay all or part of the cost of planning, establishing, improving, and providing basic operating support for centers of excellence regarding research on autism.
'(2) RESEARCH- Each center of excellence that receives funding under paragraph (1) shall conduct basic and clinical research into autism. Such research—
'(A) shall be conducted in the fields of developmental neurobiology, genetics, epigenetics, pharmacology, nutrition, immunology, neuroimmunology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, and toxicology; and
(B) should include--
'(i) investigations into the cause, diagnosis, early detection, prevention, control, treatment, and cure of autism;
'(ii) research on high-risk infant siblings; and
‘(iii) research on a broad array of environmental triggers which may have a possible role in autism, including but not limited to vaccines, other biological and pharmaceutical products, and their components (including preservatives).
- We want the oversight and safeguards language, whereby the autism community has representation on official government committees, to stay in the bill---specifically more representation on the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee and a newly formed Autism Advisory Board made up of community members and scientists.
- We want to keep language that dictates to the CDC what they could spend their allocated money on. We want the language inserted which reads: “for the purpose of collecting and analyzing information on the number, incidence, incidence trend over time, by birth year, retrospectively and prospectively, for autism spectrum disorder, classic autism, and PDD-NOS, correlates, and causes of autism and related developmental disabilities.”
[[Parents, this will make sure that data reported are comparable over time and that there is no “inflation” in diagnostic criteria to discourage CDC from unreasonably trolling for cases.]]
- In short, we want the autism community consensus bill as written by the autism community groups who are dedicated to treatments and a cure for our children.
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO IMPACT THIS BILL:
We hear that the AAP is actively lobbying behind the scenes to take the environmental language out of this bill. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby/doctors-against-research_b_17726.html They do not want NIH to look into vaccines or their components. This is wrong. Autism has been proven to be an environmental disorder. We demand that they look into all environment triggers, including vaccines and their components!
If AAP gets their way, the bill will likely pass with tons of money going to the CDC to count our children but no money going to research that directly treats and leads to a cure for our children. It is time we stand up and let our opinions be known!
PLEASE WRITE, E-MAIL FAX AND CALL THE MEMBERS LISTED BELOW. PLEASE DO THIS ASAP!
continued on next post
-----------------------------------
I don't know that I, personally, agree with everything they are asking for in this bill and will still decide if and what I will write. But, I know some on this board would like to see this passed and am giving you the information I received. I plan to research it further before adding my support.
Parents, Grandparents and Friends,
the final push for the Combating Autism Bill
has begun!
We have only two weeks to influence Senators about what we want in the Bill!
Background: As you know, the autism groups in the community wrote and reached consensus on a new Combating Autism Bill in December which was presented to Senators in early January. The plan was to substitute our bill for the old Combating Autism Bill.
Senators have since been working on the language. We have been following their progress with great interest all spring, and have heard that the senators expect to present a new version of the CAA Bill to the HELP Committee in the next couple of weeks.
The next two weeks are critical because members are expected to tackle the most important issues before the end of June.
NOW IS THE TIME TO TAKE ACTION:
- WE ARE CONCERNED that the language the community wants will be removed from the new bill.
- Specifically, we fear the environmental language will get deleted and that the money we have earmarked for the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences could be cut.
- It's imperative to get your help right away. We need you to put pressure on the HELP Committee – particularly four Senators – to make sure THE LANGUAGE WE WANT STAYS.
WHAT WE WANT:
We want the Combating Autism Bill to pass the way we want it. Let’s let them know:
- We want the $6 million solely devoted to the NIEHS every year for the next five years.
- We defend the $44 million allocated to Autism Centers of Excellence and NIH Environmental Research Centers every year for the next five years.
- We want the environmental research language to stay in the bill as written:
Autism Centers of Excellence-
'(1) IN GENERAL- In carrying out subsection (a)(1), the Director of NIH shall award grants and contracts to public or nonprofit private entities to pay all or part of the cost of planning, establishing, improving, and providing basic operating support for centers of excellence regarding research on autism.
'(2) RESEARCH- Each center of excellence that receives funding under paragraph (1) shall conduct basic and clinical research into autism. Such research—
'(A) shall be conducted in the fields of developmental neurobiology, genetics, epigenetics, pharmacology, nutrition, immunology, neuroimmunology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, and toxicology; and
(B) should include--
'(i) investigations into the cause, diagnosis, early detection, prevention, control, treatment, and cure of autism;
'(ii) research on high-risk infant siblings; and
‘(iii) research on a broad array of environmental triggers which may have a possible role in autism, including but not limited to vaccines, other biological and pharmaceutical products, and their components (including preservatives).
- We want the oversight and safeguards language, whereby the autism community has representation on official government committees, to stay in the bill---specifically more representation on the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee and a newly formed Autism Advisory Board made up of community members and scientists.
- We want to keep language that dictates to the CDC what they could spend their allocated money on. We want the language inserted which reads: “for the purpose of collecting and analyzing information on the number, incidence, incidence trend over time, by birth year, retrospectively and prospectively, for autism spectrum disorder, classic autism, and PDD-NOS, correlates, and causes of autism and related developmental disabilities.”
[[Parents, this will make sure that data reported are comparable over time and that there is no “inflation” in diagnostic criteria to discourage CDC from unreasonably trolling for cases.]]
- In short, we want the autism community consensus bill as written by the autism community groups who are dedicated to treatments and a cure for our children.
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO IMPACT THIS BILL:
We hear that the AAP is actively lobbying behind the scenes to take the environmental language out of this bill. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby/doctors-against-research_b_17726.html They do not want NIH to look into vaccines or their components. This is wrong. Autism has been proven to be an environmental disorder. We demand that they look into all environment triggers, including vaccines and their components!
If AAP gets their way, the bill will likely pass with tons of money going to the CDC to count our children but no money going to research that directly treats and leads to a cure for our children. It is time we stand up and let our opinions be known!
PLEASE WRITE, E-MAIL FAX AND CALL THE MEMBERS LISTED BELOW. PLEASE DO THIS ASAP!
continued on next post
-----------------------------------