Urgent action alert on the Combating Autism Act

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Speak Out for Real Environmental & Vaccine Research in Autism

Take Action!

Stop Congress from " Watering Down " the Combating Autism Act

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Fund Environmental Research

in the Combating Autism Act

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Stop Congress from Stripping out Key Environmental Research

Provisions

Send a Message to Congress Demanding Honest Research and Designated

Funding for Research of Environmental Factors and the

Vaccine/Autism

Link

Our sources in Congress tell us that meaningful provisions for

funding

environmental research have been stripped out of the Combating

Autism

Act by Energy and Commerce Chair Joe Barton, the Texas Congressman

who

chairs the House of Representatives Energy & Commerce Committee.

Following the Senate's refusal last summer to include provisions

for

the role of vaccines in autism in the bill, we now face the

prospect

that the two most pressing research issues involving the cause of

autism – first thimerosal and vaccines, and now designated funding

of

research into environmental factors – will be excluded from this

legislation. We need you to speak out to stop the Combating Autism

Act

from being " watered down " even more than it was in the Senate.

The Senate voted 100-0 in favor of a version of the bill that

included

the very same designation for research funding for environmental

factors that Chairman Barton now wants to abandon. The Senate

version

authorized $45 million designated for special centers that would

focus

on environmenal research – this critical provision will be removed

from the House version of the bill. We have no doubt that the House

would easily approve a bill that includes the $45 million

designation

for funding of environmental research, if a bill including such a

provision were allowed to go to the floor for an open and honest

vote.

Some of our fellow parents who well understand the importance of

research into environmental triggers in autism have tried their best

to

persuade Chairman Barton to include these key provisions for

environmental research in the bill, but other forces appear to be

at

work against such measures, resulting in the removal of any funding

of

environmental research that has any teeth.

If enacted, the CAA will set the agenda for autism research for the

next five years, yet Chairman Barton has only a few short weeks

remaining as Chair of the Energy & Commerce Committee.

Now is the time to tell Chairman Barton, that removal of provisions

for

designated funding environmental research from the Combating Autism

Act

is not acceptable.

Now is the time to tell your representative that they should speak

for

all their constituents who are affected by autism. Tell your

representatives that they should not permit environmental research

funding provisions to be stripped from the bill in negotiations

between

private parties and a lame duck committee chair. If Chairman Barton

won't support the research necessary to fully explore the causes of

autism perhaps his successor will. At this point, unless the bill

provides for environmental research, we believe that it is worth

waiting for the new Congressional leadership in 2007 to craft a

better

bill.

We want fair negotiations that will produce a bill providing for

complete, honest and funded research.

Tell Congress that all parents have a voice and that all children

deserve their rightful place at the negotiating table. Send a

message

supporting real funding of environmental research in autism.

The message contained in this Alert is supported by NoMercury; Moms

Against Mercury; Foundation for Mercury-Injured Children. Fair

Autism

Media, Generation Rescue, BEAT IOWA, CoMeD, and other

organizations

– Please contact A-CHAMP if your organization would like to

support

this message.

For some excellent commentary written by parents providing

background

and insight into how we got here, go to

Wade Rankin's blog Injecting Sense, " What's In The Horse, or

Politics

As Usual " at :

http://injectingsense.blogspot.com/2006/11/whats-in-horse-or-

politics-

as-usual.html

's piece, " The Fish Stinks From the Head Down " at:

http://caawatch.org/fishstinksfromthehead.html

Use our automated system to send an email to key Committee members

and

your Congressional representative. Send a fax. Make a phone call.

Speak

your mind. Speak out for your vaccine-injured kids.

Here is a sample letter you can fax to the Committee Chair, members

or

your Congressional Representative – find your rep's contact info

here

(Members of the Energy & Commerce Committee are listed below):

http://4.79.194.20/a-champ/directory/congdir.tt

Sample letter:

Dear Rep. _______ :

I am writing to urge you to make sure the Combating Autism Act,

H.R.

2421, contains adequate provision for funding research regarding

the

role of environmental factors as a cause of autism.

I care deeply about someone close to me who has autism. I support

long

neglected research on the role of environmental triggers, including

vaccines, as a cause of some cases of autism. I supported the

Combating Autism Act in the past because it contained specific

provisions making sure this kind of research would be done. I have

learned that these provisions – including critical provisions

designating $45 million for special centers that would focus on

environmental research – have been removed from the bill now being

considered by the House of Representatives.

I urge you to include in the Combating Autism Act specific

provisions

for funding research that explores the role of environmental

factors,

including vaccines and vaccine components such as thimerosal. Any

bill

that lacks these provisions continues the history of neglect of

this

important area of research. Omitting specific provision for

environmental and vaccine research in the bill is unacceptable and

would be a disservice to the hundreds of thousands of families that

struggle every day with a child who has autism or another

neurodevelopmental disorder.

Sincerely,

Here is contact information for Joe Barton, outgoing Chair of the

Commerce & Energy Committee:

Contact Information

Web Site: joebarton.house.gov

E-mail: Contact Via 'Web Form' on the web site

Washington Office:

2109 Rayburn House Office Building

Washington, D.C. 20515-4306

Phone: (202) 225-2002

Fax: (202) 225-3052

Here is contact information for Dingell, incoming Chair of the

Commerce & Energy Committee.

Contact Information

Web Site: www.house.gov/dingell

E-mail: Contact Via 'Web Form.'

Washington Office:

2328 Rayburn House Office Building

Washington, D.C. 20515-2215

Phone: (202) 225-4071

Fax: (202) 226-0371

You can find contact information for members of the Energy &

Commerce

Committee at this link:

http://4.79.194.20/a-champ/directory/committees.tt?commid=hcomm

Members of the Committee:

Energy and Commerce Committee

Address: 2125 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, DC 20515

Phone: (202) 225-2927 Fax: (202) 225-1919

Email: commerce@...

Website: http://energycommerce.house.gov

Committee Chair

Rep. Joe Barton (REP-TX-6th)

Ranking Member

Rep. D. Dingell (DEM-MI-15th)

Republicans (31)

Rep. Ralph Hall (REP-TX-4th)

Rep. Bilirakis (REP-FL-9th)

Rep. Fred Upton (REP-MI-6th)

Rep. Cliff Stearns (REP-FL-6th)

Rep. Gillmor (REP-OH-5th)

Rep. Deal (REP-GA-10th)

Rep. Whitfield (REP-KY-1st)

Rep. Norwood (REP-GA-9th)

Rep. Barbara Cubin (REP-WY-At-Large)

Rep. Shimkus (REP-IL-19th)

Rep. (REP-NM-1st)

Rep. Shadegg (REP-AZ-3rd)

Rep. Pickering (REP-MS-3rd)

Rep. Vito Fossella (REP-NY-13th)

Rep. Roy Blunt (REP-MO-7th)

Rep. Steve Buyer (REP-IN-4th)

Rep. Radanovich (REP-CA-19th)

Rep. Bass (REP-NH-2nd)

Rep. ph Pitts (REP-PA-16th)

Rep. Bono (REP-CA-45th)

Rep. Greg Walden (REP-OR-2nd)

Rep. Lee Terry (REP-NE-2nd)

Rep. Ferguson (REP-NJ-7th)

Rep. (REP-MI-8th)

Rep. C.L. Otter (REP-ID-1st)

Rep. Sue Myrick (REP-NC-9th)

Rep. Sullivan (REP-OK-1st)

Rep. (REP-PA-18th)

Rep. Burgess (REP-TX-26th)

Rep. Marsha Blackburn (REP-TN-7th)

Democrats (26)

Rep. Henry Waxman (DEM-CA-30th)

Rep. Markey (DEM-MA-7th)

Rep. Rick Boucher (DEM-VA-9th)

Rep. Edolphus Towns (DEM-NY-10th)

Rep. Pallone (DEM-NJ-6th)

Rep. Sherrod Brown (DEM-OH-13th)

Rep. Bart Gordon (DEM-TN-6th)

Rep. Bobby Rush (DEM-IL-1st)

Rep. Eshoo (DEM-CA-14th)

Rep. Bart Stupak (DEM-MI-1st)

Rep. Eliot Engel (DEM-NY-17th)

Rep. Albert Wynn (DEM-MD-4th)

Rep. Gene Green (DEM-TX-29th)

Rep. Ted Strickland (DEM-OH-6th)

Rep. DeGette (DEM-CO-1st)

Rep. Lois Capps (DEM-CA-23rd)

Rep. Mike Doyle (DEM-PA-14th)

Rep. (DEM-ME-1st)

Rep. Jim (DEM-FL-11th)

Rep. Janice Schakowsky (DEM-IL-9th)

Rep. Hilda Solis (DEM-CA-32nd)

Rep. (DEM-TX-20th)

Rep. Jay Inslee (DEM-WA-1st)

Rep. Tammy Baldwin (DEM-WI-2nd)

Rep. Mike Ross (DEM-AR-4th)

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