U.S. appoints autism advocates to new federal panel

U.S. appoints autism advocates to new federal panel
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Advocates who believe vaccines maycause autism will join mental health professionals andneurologists on a new federal panel to coordinate autismresearch and education, the U.S. Health and Human ServicesDepartment said on Tuesday.
Parents of children with autism and a writer who has anautism spectrum disorder will also be on the Interagency AutismCoordinating Committee, HHS said.
"The committee's first priority will be to develop astrategic plan for autism research that can guide public andprivate investments to make the greatest difference forfamilies struggling with autism," said Dr. Thomas Insel,director of the National Institute for Mental Health and thechairman of the new committee.
The committee was authorized under the Combating Autism Actof 2006. The U.S. government has been under pressure to step upresearch on autism, which can severely disable a child byinterfering with speech and behavior.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Preventionestimates that about one in every 150 children has autism or arelated disorder such as Asperger's syndrome -- which adds upto about 560,000 people up to age 21 in the United States.
"This important committee will play a key role incoordinating autism research, services, and education relatedto autism spectrum disorder," HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt saidin a statement.
Some of the committee's members have been at odds withgovernment agencies in the past. Registered nurse Lyn Redwood,president of the Coalition for Safe Minds, has frequentlyaccused the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ofcovering up evidence that vaccines cause autism.
Another member, Lee Grossman, is president of the AutismSociety of America, which also argues that vaccines can causethe disorder.
Many medical studies have failed to show evidence thatvaccines or their ingredients cause autism. The Institute ofMedicine, which advises the federal government on healthmatters, issued an unusually strongly worded report urging thatresearchers look elsewhere for a cause for autism but theadvocacy groups are unconvinced and are vocal about it.
Other members of the new committee include Dr. DuaneAlexander, director of the National Institute of Child Healthand Human Development; Dr. James Battey, director of theNational Institute on Deafness and Other CommunicationsDisorders at NIH; and Story Landis, director of the NationalInstitute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
Stephen Shore, executive director of Autism SpectrumDisorder Consulting, himself was diagnosed with an autismspectrum disorder and wrote a book, "Understanding Autism forDummies."
The group will meet twice a year and make recommendationsfor new areas of research.
(Reporting by Maggie Fox; editing by Mohammad Zargham)