Kennedy announces new studies to examine environmental factors linked to autism

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said that the agency will launch a series of new studies aimed at finding the “environmental toxins” he believes are causing increasing rates of autism spectrum disorder (ASD).  

“This is coming from an environmental toxin and somebody made a profit by putting that environmental toxin in our air, our water, our medicines, our food,” Kennedy said during a Wednesday press conference on a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder.  

“It’s to their benefit to normalize it, to say, 'Oh this is all normal, it’s always been there.'” 

The CDC report, released Tuesday, found that 1 in 31 children in the United States were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder in 2022, an increase from the 2020 rate of 1 in 36 children. The report looked at 16 sites across 14 states and Puerto Rico and found that numbers varied considerably by region, race and gender.  

Boys were more likely to be diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder than girls, the report found. The highest rates of the condition are among children who are Black, Hispanic, Asian or Pacific Islander, or multiracial.  

The study outlined in the report looked at autism spectrum disorder rates among 8- and 4-year-olds. It found that 8-year-olds were more likely to be diagnosed with the condition.  

It also attributes the rising rates of autism spectrum disorder to improved evaluations and diagnostic methods, not to anything environmental.  

“Research has not demonstrated that living in certain communities puts children at greater risk for developing ASD,” the report reads. “Differences in the prevalence of children identified with ASD across communities might be due to differences in availability of services for early detection and evaluation and diagnostic practices.” 

Kennedy in the past has said that he does not believe that rising rates of autism spectrum disorder are related to advances in diagnosing the condition. He reiterated that belief on Wednesday, stressing that he thinks rising rates are related to an “environmental toxin.”  

“We know it’s an environmental exposure, it has to be,” Kennedy said. “Genes do not cause epidemics. It can provide a vulnerability, but you need an environmental toxin.” 

The report and press conference come roughly a week after Kennedy announced HHS launched a “massive testing and research effort” to identify the causes of the autism “epidemic” and work to “eliminate those exposures.”  

Kennedy said that the testing and research effort would find the causes of the condition by September. When pressed by a reporter about the deadline, he said the agency would have “some of the answers” by then.  

“It’s going to be an evolving process. ... We are going to issue grants the way that it has always been done,” Kennedy said.  

“People will know they can research and they can follow the science no matter what it says, without any kind of fear that they are going to be censored.”