Autism now costs U.S. over $236 billion per year

(NaturalNews) Autism and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are terms used to describe a constellation of developmental brain disorders characterized by a spectrum of behavioral deficits including problems in social interaction, problems with communication both verbally and non-verbally, and repetitive, often harmful behaviors.

The DSM-V, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th Edition, has merged all distinct autism subtypes into one simplified diagnosis, ASD.

Autism epidemic?
The mainstream media, Big Pharma and the CDC are desperately trying to convince the American public that there isn't an autism epidemic. Instead, the official cover-up explanation is that what we are actually seeing is an "increased awareness" of autism, not an epidemic.

In other words, no need to worry; autism has been with us all along at comparable rates; it was merely underdiagnosed.

How common is Autism?

1 in 68 children have been diagnosed with autism (1 in 42 boys) Diagnosis of autism is becoming more prevalent. Autism is the fastest-growing developmental disability in the U.S. Boys are nearly five times more likely than girls to develop autism. There is no allopathic medical detection or cure for autism.

What causes autism?

Officialdom promotes the notion that there is no known cause for autism other than genetic factors or prior undetected brain abnormalities, which unfortunately predispose a small but growing percentage of the population to autism.

However, the medical establishment is absolutely certain that vaccines do not cause autism. In fact, most "scientific" studies show no causation between vaccines and autism. Not very reassuring considering that recent revelations have brought to light just how corrupt and fraudulent many scientific studies are.

Since checkbook studies are the norm, it's always important to determine who funded a given study as well as cui bono (who benefits)!

Rosemary Mathis, VP of Victim Support for SaneVax.org, stated in a 2012 Natural News article:

"Between 1960 and 1980 - children were subjected to 24 and 25 doses of vaccines. As of 2010, infants and children are exposed to 70 vaccines in the same time period. To put this in perspective - a child born today will receive more vaccine doses by the time he is six months old than his mother did by the time she went to college. With the addition of vaccinations to the adult schedule; a person will receive close to 167 vaccine doses over their lifetime. It is interesting to note that Alzheimer's rates are also increasing as more vaccines are administered to senior citizens. Subsequently vaccine manufacturers are now wallowing in a 27 billion dollar a year industry. At what cost to our children; at what financial loss to America's families?"

Many parents have shared first-hand testimonials explaining how their child was developmentally normal until a vaccine or series of vaccines was administered, rendering the child autistic shortly thereafter. Of course, these reports are dismissed as anecdotal or scientifically worthless.

One fact that's not publicized is that a growing number of children and their families have received compensation for vaccine injuries by the secretive vaccine court under a little know program called the Vaccine Injury Claims Program.

Between 1998 and 2013, the vaccine court awarded $2,704,762,675.55 ($2.7 billion). Many awards stem from a growing body of irrefutable evidence presented in court proving that vaccine ingredients, including those in the MMR (think Dr. Wakefield) vaccine, can and do cross the blood-brain barrier, causing autism.

Environmental factors

Other researchers point to a link between an increase in autism and the exponential rise in environmental toxins. Approximately 80,000 chemicals are used in the United States, and many become part of our body's toxic chemical burden resulting in chronic illness.

Monetary costs overall:

Researchers have concluded, based on CDC estimates assuming that 40% of autism victims have an intellectual disability, approximately $236 billion per year is spent on autism. If the intellectual disability figure is higher than, say, 60%, then the money spent jumps to $262 billion, which exceeds the annual interest payment on the national debt.

The lifetime cost of autism is between $1.43 million and $2.44 million per family. In response to the apparent autism epidemic, the CDC and Big Pharma have spent millions, not to discover the actual causes of autism, but to convince Americans that vaccines are safe and do not cause autism.

For more information and breaking news on the vaccine-autism connection and more, go to Vaccines.NaturalNews.com.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.latimes.com

http://www.ageofautism.com

http://www.chemicalbodyburden.org

http://www.thelibertybeacon.com

http://science.naturalnews.com