Combat Autism

I recently became aware of the Combating Autism Act of 2005, a bill before the House and Senate in D.C..

This legislation will accomplish the following goals in the fight against Autism:

• Double NIH spending on autism research.
• Empower the Director of the NIH to act as an "autism czar" - developing an annual research budget on autism, based on the best science, and requiring that budget be reported to Congress.
• Create a screening program in all 50 states for the early identification of children with autism - short of a cure, early identification leading to early intervention with behavioral services provides the best available outcomes for autistic kids.
• Fund the efforts of the Autism Treatment Network to identify the best medical practices in the treatment of autistic kids.
• Continue funding of the epidemiological and public education programs on autism at the CDC.
• Authorize, overall, nearly 1 billion of federal spending on autism over the next 5 years - a multi-front war on autism from public awareness and early diagnosis to basic biomedical research.

Currently this bill only has three sponsors in Virginia; Congressmen Davis, Moran, and Wolf. Neither Senator has signed on at this point. For more information, click the link above. Please encourage your elected officials to support this important piece of legislation.