This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

A new report from Childrens Health Defense, citing information from the nation's Centers for Disease Control, warns that one child in 36 at the age of 8 has autism.

That's 2.8%, and includes 4% of the boys and 1% of the girls.

That was up from 1 in 44 at the date of the previous study, and has skyrocketed from the 2000 figure of 1 in 150.

The numbers come from the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report and continues, the report said, a trend that "has persisted for decades."

"Autism prevalence in the 1990s, which was 1 in 1,000 children, already represented a tenfold increase over the condition’s estimated prevalence in the 1970s," the report said.

The study of 8-year-olds, along with another involving children aged 4, both found the problem was higher among black, Hispanic and Asian-Pacific Islander children than white or biracial, the report said.

And Mark Blaxill, of Health Choice, told The Defender that the report's estimate of 1 in 36 children aged 8 affected by autism wasn't even the highest number, as a recent National Health Interview Survey put that figure at 1 in 29.

While the report admitted the numbers "might reflect improved screening, awareness, and access to services among historically underserved groups," experts said that didn't provide all the needed answers about why there were differences. Or another increase.

It explained most autistic children either had an intellectual disability (37.9 percent) or be on the borderline of that condition, (23.5 percent).

For many, there are environmental risk factors that are suspected of contributing to an increase in the burden of autism patients.

Those include metals like aluminum and mercury in vaccines, the use of acetaminophen during pregnancy and other "heavy metals" in baby food.

The Defender said, "Studies also link industrial chemicals, such as lead, arsenic, copper, selenium, iron, and magnesium, to the disorder."