Saturday, 19 April 2025

WATCH: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Gives Timeline On When HHS Will Know Cause Of “Autism Epidemic”

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In a meeting of President Trump’s Cabinet, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said his agency would uncover the cause of the autism epidemic by September.

“By September we will know what has caused the autism epidemic,” RFK Jr. said.

“And we’ll be able to eliminate those exposures,” he added.

“Think of that, so it was 1 in 10,000 children had autism, and now it’s 1 in 31,” President Trump said.

WATCH:

“Thank you, @POTUS, for another productive Cabinet meeting today. Thanks to your MAHA Commission, we’ll soon identify the root causes of the autism epidemic. Eliminating those harmful exposures will bring us one step closer to fulfilling our Make America Healthy Again promise,” RFK Jr. commented.

From the Associated Press:

Kennedy has offered no details on how his study will be different or what researchers will be involved. Leading autism organizations, such as the Autism Society of America, have not been included in discussions about the research, said ASA spokeswoman Kristyn Roth.

Roth said many agree that more research is needed to determine what causes autism, but Kennedy’s approach has raised alarms.

“There is a deep concern that we are going backward and evaluating debunked theories,” Roth said.

Trump and Kennedy have both expressed concerns about rising autism diagnoses rates.

Some of that increase is due to increased awareness and a change in how the disability is diagnosed. For decades, the diagnosis was given only to kids with severe problems communicating or socializing and those with unusual, repetitive behaviors. But around 30 years ago, the term became shorthand for a group of milder, related conditions known as ″autism spectrum disorders.” Milder autism cases are far more common than severe ones.

With improved screening and autism services, diagnosis is increasingly happening at younger ages, too. And there’s been more awareness and advocacy for Black and Hispanic families, leading to an increase in autism diagnosed among those groups.

Still, anti-vaccine advocates, including Kennedy, have claimed that vaccines are to blame. The theory largely stems from a 1998 paper that was later retracted.

Per USA TODAY:

Trump in February ordered the creation of a “Make America Healthy Again” Commission made up of Kennedy and other secretaries to look at everything from the rates of autism and asthma in children to how much medicine is being prescribed to them for ADHD or other conditions.

Autism diagnoses in the United States have increased significantly since 2000, concerning segments of the country. Scientists have been researching for decades what genetic or environmental factors might contribute to autism, but the causes of most cases remain unclear.

They say that the major drivers of the increase in U.S. autism rates are an expanded definition that includes more types of behaviors and more widespread awareness and diagnoses.


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