The National Autism Association renewed a call Friday for more research on the causes of autism in light of a national study indicating that the disorder affects about 1 in 150 children.

Wendy Fournier, of Portsmouth, president of the national advocacy organization, said the study released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is no surprise to her and other parents of children with autism.

“Autism is a crisis. It’s an epidemic. We’re renewing our call to the CDC to declare that autism is a national emergency,” Fournier said.

“If it were anything else, juvenile diabetes or blindness,” the government would “go nuts” to find the cause, she said.

The study, which analyzed data on 8-year-olds in six states in 2000 and in an additional eight states in 2002, suggests that 560,000 children may be affected nationwide, or about 50,000 more than originally believed.

A dramatic increase in the diagnoses of autism during the 1990s paralleled the expanded use of infant vaccines containing the preservative thimerosal, which contains ethyl mercury.

Parents were alerted when public health officials announced in 1999 that the use of thimerosal in vaccines would be phased out.

In 2004, the Institute of Medicine at the National Academy of Science concluded there was no causal relationship between autism and the use of thimerosal in vaccines.

But last year, Congress called for additional research into the issue, passing the Combating Autism Act. The law authorizes the appropriation of $945 million for autism over the next five years, including $600 million for research on causes of the disorder, as well as money for early detection and treatment.

The National Autism Association, which lobbied heavily for the new law, believes autism is a “preventable and treatable disease with an environmental trigger,” Fournier said.

Autism manifests itself as a behavioral disorder affecting skills in communication and social interaction, with symptoms varying from one person to another.

Fournier said, “It can’t be a genetic epidemic.”

If there is a genetic predisposition to autism, she said, “There has to be an environmental trigger.”

She pointed out that actual appropriation of the money authorized by Congress last year has not yet occurred.

In addition, Fournier said, the CDC and the National Institutes of Health could focus more of their own annual budgets on autism research.

Without effective treatments, taxpayers would foot the bill for the lifelong care of people with autism, which is estimated at $3.2 million per person, she said.

A CDC spokeswoman said the agency is spending $15 million on autism, including a $5.9 million study of a number of possible risk factors for autism, among them exposure to mercury.

The latest CDC report on autism reflects the most detailed collection of data yet, according to officials. These results, combined with previous studies, “affirm that autism is a major public health concern,” according to Dr. Marshalyn Yeargin-Allsopp, chief of the CDC’s Developmental Disabilities Branch.

But the statistics do not necessarily mean that the incidence of autism has grown, according to Catherine Rice, a CDC behavioral scientist.

While more children are being identified with autism than in the past, Rice could not say whether there is a “real increase in the condition” or whether the statistics reflect changes in the way this behavioral disorder is identified.

gmacris@projo.com