PRESS RELEASE For Immediate Release: November 16, 2006

Contact: Rita Shreffler, NAA (Nixa, MO) 417-818-9030 Wendy Fournier, NAA (Portsmouth, RI) 401-632-7523 Lori McIlwain, NAA (Cary, NC) 919-468-6455

National Autism Association to Call for New Era of Autism Research at Friday’s IACC Meeting

Data supporting mercury/autism link to be presented at semi-annual autism committee meeting in DC

Washington, DC  – The National Autism Association (NAA) will participate in Friday’s semi-annual meeting of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) with a presentation by NAA Scientific Advisory Board member Jeffrey Bradstreet, MD, titled “The Role of Environmental Factors in the Pathogenesis of Autism: Phenotypes, Lab Markers, Clinical Interventions and Suggested Areas for Research.”

Dr. Bradstreet will update the committee on the recommendations for environmental research into autism based on the proceedings from the August 2005 symposium, “Environmental Factors in Neurodevelopmental  Disorders” held by NAA and SafeMinds through a generous grant from the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS).

“We look forward to presenting new data that re-confirms the link between environmental toxins and the development of autism,” commented NAA president Wendy Fournier.  “With this promising science, we urge the NIH to move into a new era of productive autism research.”

To meet the demand for an environmental research emphasis, NAA will ask that the IACC broaden its expertise by adding experts in the fields of toxicology, gastroenterology, and neuroimmunology to the Autism Matrix Update Panel.  NAA will also discuss the following:

• The dire need for autism to be declared an epidemic.

• The need for funding to be directed towards research that will benefit the most children in the shortest amount of time.

• The majority of research dollars should be allocated towards environmental contaminants (including vaccines and their preservatives) and their links to neurological disorders.

For years NAA and SafeMinds have pushed for an environmental research agenda, specifically the connection between autism and mercury, often with resistance. “As the latest research has unfolded it has become quite clear that our children are suffering from an environmentally triggered disease,” says parent and NAA board member Laura Bono.  “We hope the research presented to the IACC will change the perception that autism is a genetic, lifelong, and untreatable diagnosis.”

For more information, visit www.nationalautism.org.

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