New data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention shows there has been a sizable uptick in cases of autism in children.

The Turn to Tara Team analyzed the CDC data and uncovered more children are being diagnosed with autism than at any other time in modern history impacting roughly one out of every 36 American children. In the tri-state area alone last year, a 500% spike in cases were discovered in New York and New Jersey.

“A small percentage of this increase has to do with better diagnosis or better awareness,” said founder of Autism Care Today and Co-Founder of Autism Media Network Dr. Doreen Granpeesheh.

Granpeesheh added scientific research is showing that a lot of autism is a genetic predisposition. So, there's a genetic factor and then it's triggered by something in the environment and the toxins really are mostly pesticides in our food.

Nobody has been able to really discover why there was a period of time where a lot of scientists were looking at toxins in the New Jersey area in particular,” Granpeesheh said.

Granpeesheh acknowledged there needs to be a push for more federal assistance to help fund research.

I mean, it's an epidemic,” she said. “And it's very concerning. It’s one in 36 children but since it's four boys to one girl. It is one in 23 boys, if you can imagine that. So, in pretty much every classroom you walk into will have a child or more than one child who has the diagnosis.”