Topline
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a televised presidential cabinet meeting Thursday that his agency will investigate and identify the cause of rising autism rates in the U.S. by September, though scientists have said a large part of the jump in rates are linked to improvements in autism awareness and diagnoses.
Key Facts
Kennedy said the Health and Human Services Department has started a “massive testing and research effort” involving “hundreds of scientists from around the world” that will allow the government to know by September the cause behind the jump in autism rates, adding “we’ll be able to eliminate those exposures.”
About one in 36 children were identified with autism spectrum disorder in a 2020 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, up significantly from the one in 150 children identified with autism in 2000.
Kennedy added the Health and Human Services Department most recent numbers on autism cases “we think, are going to be about one in 31.”
President Donald Trump speculated on the cause of the rise in cases, baselessly suggesting it could be related to consumption of certain foods or drugs or “maybe it’s a shot,” pushing a popular, debunked conspiracy that vaccines cause autism.
Scientific studies have continuously shown no link between vaccines and autism spectrum disorder, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which cited its own studies and a review from the National Academy of Medicine.
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What Is Known About The Increase In Autism Rates?
The first studies on autism prevalence were conducted in the 1960s and 1970s, when scientists estimated there were two to four cases per 10,000 children, according to the National Institutes of Health. That estimate jumped to 6 to 7 per 1,000 children in the U.S. by 2002. The National Institutes of Health have said it is likely that the increase in autism prevalence, based on epidemiologic studies, is largely rooted in expanding diagnostic criteria for autism and the establishment of an autism spectrum, which is used to identify varying degrees of autism characteristics and challenges. Other factors could include autism screening improvements and increases in risk factors for autism spectrum disorder like the rise in births to older parents, according to the National Institutes of Health. Researchers from Rutgers University have also suggested potential genetic and environmental factors could contribute to the increase, though the specifics of those factors are not clear.
Contra
Autism advocates have expressed concern about Kennedy and the Trump administration linking vaccines to autism. Autism Science Foundation founder Alison Singer told NBC News she supports research into autism causes but is concerned about vaccine skepticism harming children and autism research, saying that funds will be “spent re-examining what we know does not cause autism, and are directed away from looking in new potential areas of what’s causing autism.”
Key Background
Kennedy, a vaccine skeptic, has for years promoted the conspiracy that vaccines cause autism, once baselessly pushing a theory that preservative thimerosal, a vaccine preservative that was phased out in 2001, was responsible for a rise in autism diagnoses. Research has shown thimerosal does not cause autism spectrum disorder. Kennedy has said he will not take away vaccines from the general public and rejected characterizations people have made about him calling him “anti-vaccine.” He told NBC News last year prior to leading the Health and Human Services Department he is “going to make sure scientific safety studies and efficacy are out there, and people can make individual assessments about whether that product is going to be good for them.”
Further Reading
RFK Jr.’s Conspiracy Theories: Here’s What Trump’s Pick For Health Secretary Has Promoted (Forbes)
CDC Plans Large Study On Long-Debunked Connection Between Vaccines And Autism, Report Says (Forbes)