The United States spends more on healthcare than any other nation in the industrialized world, and yet despite that the country lags behind in many crucial health categories.

Aside from an epidemic of potentially deadly diseases such as cancer and heart disease as well as a confounding rise in nagging chronic diseases like fibromyalgia, the U.S. is also facing a serious challenge in the form of autism, a complex condition that mainstream medical science still can’t quite get a handle on.

Because of the mystery (and borderline taboo) surrounding both the causes and possible treatments of autism, many have hypothesized that our changing diet (i.e. what’s being done to our food) is just one potential factor that has led to a dramatic increase in autism cases.

For example, Stephanie Seneff, a research scientist from MIT, made waves when she warned that as many as 50% of all children may be autistic by the year 2025. Seneff’s work showed a correlation between the rising use of glyphosate (the main ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup). While some argue that correlation does not equal causation, it is nonetheless an important piece of evidence to consider.

Additives in vaccines and the high-frequency, dangerously untested vaccine schedule being administered by doctors has also been theorized as a possible contributor.

As more and more people are diagnosed as autistic, the question has now shifted to how those people will be treated — and with the way things are going, this “autism tsunami” could be devastating.

Autism on the Rise

A warning by the Autism Speaks advocacy organization in 2015 laid out the situation the U.S. is currently facing: more than 1.5 million people have autism here, and most are people younger than 22.

Once they grow up, thousands could be left without the necessary support, the organization warned.

“The current system we have right now is woefully inadequate,” Angela Lello, director of housing and community living at Autism Speaks said in this article originally published in U.S. News & World Report. “There are lots of long waiting lists. In some states, it can take as long as 10 years to gain access to (these support)services.”

While some people on the autism spectrum are considered “high-functioning” and can live with no help or minimal help on their own, many others need someone to watch over and care for them during even the most basic of everyday tasks.

The lack of care for these individuals is pronounced: as the article notes, about 50,000 autistic children are transitioning into adulthood every year, outpacing resources that provide them with the help they need.

In order to combat this, President Barack Obama signed a $1.3 billion CARES Act (Collaboration, Accountability, Research, Education and Support) into law in 2014 to find and address gaps in care for children, as well as to support research for treatment. But will it be enough if the autism rates continue to grow with no end in sight?

Currently, the autism treatment industry is expected to grow by leaps and bounds, to as much as $1 trillion by 2020.

Many have stated emphatically that preparing children with autism for adulthood needs to be the focus, including New Jersey Congressman Chris Smith, who helped create the CARES Act.

But others wonder when society will begin focusing on the root causes of autism, including the evidence showing the links between our woefully deficient, chemical-dominant food and medicine industry and the disease.

For example, recent studies suggest that gut healthy bacteria may be play an especially important role in preventing autism, and some parents have reported excellent results by focusing in this area, and optimizing nutrition in general while removing processed and chemically enhanced foods.

Meanwhile, as the answers continue to evade mainstream pundits, the autism epidemic just keeps on growing: 1 in every 68 kids will be diagnosed, as the article noted.

For more information on the “autism tsunami” and how people are coping with it, including adults on the higher-functioning end of the spectrum, check out the full article by clicking here.

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