National TV news PBS asks two prominent scientists: Why is Autism rising?

PBS Newshour brought two scientific Autism experts today, March 29, 2012, to discuss the “Rise of Autism” issue.
You can view this PBS Newshour discussion on Autism by clicking here.  The announcement today by CDC was that genes are not the only cause of Autism but unknown other factors cause susceptible genes to express Autism Spectrum of disorders.

Expert Scientific Speakers: One was the CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden, Atlanta, USA who discussed the SEED multi – year CDC project to identify issues other than genetics that might correlate with genetic susceptibility genes to cause Autism. The other a Pediatrician, Dr. Susan Hyman, from Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, USA who discussed the importance of objective criteria to diagnose the Autism spectrum of disorders, and the imperative need to have early diagnosis. Both agreed that the Pediatricians must be required to request for testing the children around 24 months of age to allow diagnosis to begin by 4 years of age. Concern was expressed for the highest functioning children in the spectrum, whose diagnosis and hence therapy might be delayed.

Videos on Autism PBS series The PBS blog “The Rundown” writes about the show covered today: The analysis comes from records of medical and school records of more than 330,000 eight-year-olds living in 14 states…. To read the article in “The Rundown” please click here. It includes the six “Autism Now” broadcast series videos. Each one is worth seeing. Especially the first one, broadcast last year, where renowned journalist, Robert MacNeil shows us visually his grandson’s inability to communicate with him.

Good News: More boys than girls are affected. Boys have the single Y chromosome. Girls have two X chromosomes. The two X chromosomes are in some way protecting girls from the family’s susceptibility genes to autism when exposed to the same causal factors. What are the causes? The good news is that the CDC has now acknowledged that genetics alone does not cause autism and has begun to ask what else may be contributing to the continual rise of Autism.

Related Articles on Autism:
1) Why is Autism observed in America and not in underdeveloped countries?
2) Autism in child & Multiple Sclerosis in parent: A pattern emerging?
3) Multiple sclerosis cured by hook worms?
You may also enjoy reading:
4) Preparing the college Professor for the child with Autism.
5) Why you should choose a pecan pie free of corn syrup this Thanksgiving.