Posted on 12/19/2006 4:07:01 PM PST by Extremely Extreme Extremist
President Also Inks Bills For AIDS Funding In Rural Areas And Bird Flu Response
(AP) WASHINGTON -- President Bush on Tuesday signed bills to raise federal funding for autism, shift AIDS money to rural areas and the South and create a government unit to oversee response to a bird flu pandemic or bioterrorism attack.
The autism bill increases federal funding by 50 percent for the disorder, which afflicts 1.5 million people in the United States.
Congress voted on Dec. 7 to significantly increase federal funding to identify the cause of autism, now diagnosed in one in 166 children. The Senate, acting a day after House passage, approved on a voice vote legislation that authorizes $945 million over five years for autism research, screening and treatment.
The legislation provides the National Institutes of Health with a list of possible research areas related to autism spectrum disorder, including an examination of whether the increase in autism diagnoses is caused by environmental factors.
The AIDS legislation Bush signed will shift care and treatment money to rural areas and the South.
The House on Dec. 9 agreed by voice vote to renew the $2.1 billion-annual Ryan White CARE Act. The Senate passed the bill earlier after senators from New York and New Jersey dropped their opposition, accepting a compromise that settled months of dispute just as Congress adjourned for the year.
Lawmakers from some urban areas feared losing money under a five-year renewal of the law. The final deal renews it for three years. That allows earlier reviews of the formulas for distributing money and eliminates the large dollar cuts in the final years that threatened some areas.
AIDS began as a big-city epidemic affecting mainly gay white men. The updates, the first since 2000, aim to spread money more equally around the country. Current law had only counted patients with full-blown AIDS. The revision also counts patients with the HIV virus who have not developed AIDS. That change favors the South and rural areas, for example, where the disease is a newer phenomenon.
The president also signed a bill to create a new agency within the Health and Human Services Department to oversee the development of medicine and equipment to respond to a bird flu pandemic or a bioterrorism attack.
is AIDS on the rise in rural areas and the South? Or is this just more pork?
Because we all know the existing CMS, CDC, & FDA isn't adequate enough.
Probably not in the 'Bible belt', but I wouldn't be a bit surprised if some of our more "progressive" Southern cities(NOLA, ATL,) are seeing more AIDS cases.
There is a highly likely theory that autism is causing by infants watching television.
No one wants to hear about it, they'd rather blame evil corporations.
Seems like a lot of money to spend just to try to prove that autism doesn't come from vaccines. :)
And those of us with autistic children who do NOT have television - do you have a "highly likely" theory for us?
No, I would never claim one factor explains everything.
The self-wiring of the infant brain is a complicated matter, and can be disrupted by many things. Even if television-watching by babies is part of the explanation, it would only seem to damage a small percentage of those exposed.
I think the money is being spent to make Imus shut up. :-)
Somehow it's the parents' fault (especially the mother's). My gosh- don't you know anything?? /sarcasm
Autism Bump
how do you account for the kids who didn't watch TV in the 50s and 60s?
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