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Is the rise in autism just due to a medical label?

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In reading quite a bit on autism lately, the data collector in me sensed something I see quite often in medicine: are diseases and conditions really increasing in rate, or are more being properly diagnosed with certain ailments?

Take autism, for example. The CDC set off quite a firestorm this year by stating that 1 in 150 kids is born with autism. As always, many parents jumped to conclusions and thought something in the environment (food, water, air, vaccines) was to blame.

What is the reason for this increase? Was a change in measurement methods or better patterns and definitions of diagnosis the reason for an "uptick" in autism cases? If something comes out of relative nowhere and "grows at a substantial rate," it should always be suspect. Well, I hope.

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