Tuesday, 13 May 2025

WATCH: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Holds Press Conference On Autism Epidemic, “This Is A Preventable Disease”

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Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. held a press conference on Wednesday about the alarming rates of autism in the United States.

RFK Jr. said autism is a “preventable disease” and it’s an “environmental exposure.”

WATCH:

RFK Jr. disclosed the updated prevalence rates of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the United States, saying the rate among eight-year-olds is 1 in 31.

“There is an extreme risk for boys,” he continued.

The risk for boys of getting an ASD diagnosis in this country is 1 in 20.

RFK Jr. cited California as having the highest risk among boys at 1 in 12.5.

WATCH:

Per CNN:

Dr. Walter Zahorodny, an associate professor at the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and a co-author of the new CDC report, joined Kennedy at Wednesday’s news conference and echoed his claim that the rise in autism prevalence is an “urgent public health crisis” that could not solely be attributed to better awareness.

“I would urge everyone to consider the likelihood that autism – whether we call it an epidemic, a tsunami or a surge of autism – is a real thing that we don’t understand, and it must be triggered or caused by environmental or risk factors,” he said. “We need to address this question seriously because, in my opinion, for the last 20 years, we’ve collected data but not made real progress in understanding what causes autism or how to effectively prevent it or treat it effectively.”

Kennedy said that autism research will fall under the new Administration for Healthy America, in a new chronic disease division. He said that he plans to announce a “series of new studies to identify precisely what the environmental toxins are that are causing it” within a few weeks.

The cause of autism isn’t fully understood, but research has indicated that genetics may play a significant role. But Kennedy said that this line of study is a “dead end,” instead pointing to factors including mold, pesticides, medicines and ultrasounds.

“Genes do not cause epidemics. It can provide a vulnerability. You need an environmental toxin,” Kennedy said.

On Tuesday, the CDC published new data showing that autism rates increased among children in the US. About 1 in every 31 children was diagnosed with autism by age 8 in 2022, up from 1 in 36 in 2020.

WATCH:

Full text:

RFK Jr: “If the autism epidemic is because of better diagnostic criteria why are we not seeing it in older people?”

“Why is this only happening in young people?”

“Have you ever seen anybody our age with full blown autism.”

“Where are these people walking around the mall?”

“They’re not in homes. There are no homes for them. There are no institutions for them.”

“Anybody can look around and see that this is a canard.”

“This is coming from an environmental toxin.”

“Somebody made a profit by putting that environmental toxin into our air, our water, our medicines, our food.”

“Within three weeks we’re gonna announce a series of new studies to identify precisely what the environmental toxins are that are causing this.”

WATCH:

The Defender reports:

An estimated 1 in 31 (3.22%) 8-year-old children had an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis in 2022 — up from 1 in 36 (2.8%) in 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in its latest study, published today.

Overall, the prevalence of autism in U.S. children rose approximately 17% between 2020 and 2022, continuing a decades-long trend.

The condition was 3.4 times more prevalent among boys than girls — 1 in 20 for boys overall and as high as 1 in 12.5 in California. ASD rates were lower among White children than among Asian/Pacific Islander, Black, Hispanic and multiracial children, continuing a pattern that first emerged in 2020.

“The 1 in 31 number is a testament to the failure of the medical system as we know it,” said Mary Holland, CEO of Children’s Health Defense.

Holland added:

“The level of autism among 8-year-olds has been steadily increasing for decades without unbiased, real research into the likely causes. Tens of thousands of parents have come forward in recent decades to say they believe vaccines triggered their children’s autism. Yet mainstream science, media and government regulators have rejected the idea of even examining this observation seriously.”

However, Holland praised efforts by U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to study the problem.

“The only good news here is that we finally have a president and HHS secretary truly committed to looking at all the potential causes and stopping this downward trajectory that is putting our nation at risk,” Holland said.

Kennedy announced in a Cabinet meeting last week that the government has launched a “massive testing and research effort” to determine what causes autism. He said the effort involves hundreds of scientists globally and will be completed by September. Once the environmental causes of autism are identified, “We’ll be able to eliminate those exposures,” Kennedy said.

Commenting today on the CDC report, Kennedy said: “The autism epidemic has now reached a scale unprecedented in human history because it affects the young. The risks and costs of this crisis are a thousand times more threatening to our country than COVID-19. Autism is preventable and it is unforgivable that we have not yet identified the underlying causes. We should have had these answers 20 years ago.”

Full press conference:


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