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• The Guardian
• Wed Apr 16 2025

The US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, said in his first press conference that the significant and recent rise in autism diagnoses was evidence of an ?epidemic? caused by an ?environmental toxin?, which would be rooted out by September.

Autism advocates and health experts have repeatedly stated the rise in diagnoses is related to better recognition of the condition, changing diagnostic criteria and better access to screening. Many also reject the label of an ?epidemic?, arguing that neurodivergence should be valued.

?This is a preventable disease, we know it?s environmental exposure, it has to be,? said Kennedy. ?Genes do not cause epidemics, they can provide a vulnerability, but you need an environmental toxin,? he said, despite known evidence against this claim.

Kennedy?s remarks come after a new federal report suggests that autism rates in the US are rising. The report states that autism prevalence across the country has increased from one in 36 children to one in 31. Health researchers across various autism advocacy groups attribute the increase to the expansion of diagnostic tools and access to care, along with other factors.

RFK disagreed with the consensus of health researchers, and said that ?we need to move away? from the idea that the increase in autism prevalence ?is simply due to better diagnostic tools?.

The health secretary is instead using the data to support the idea that the rise in autism diagnoses is evidence of a growing ?epidemic?. He added that ?epidemic denial? towards autism had become a ?feature of mainstream media?.

Kennedy also asserted that he was going to lift the ?taboo? on autism research ? at the same time that the CDC has gutted numerous programs and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the largest publicly funded biomedical and behavioral research body in the world, is conducting an ideological review of grants that has led to widespread fear among researchers.

?We?re going to remove the taboo ? that people will know they can research and follow the science no matter what it says, without any kind of fear that they?re going to be censored,? said Kennedy.

Autism Speaks, a non-profit advocacy and research group, says there could be a link between environmental toxins and autism in certain cases, such as pre-natal exposure to the chemicals thalidomide and valproic acid.

But the organization asserts that ?none of these influences appears to ?cause? or ?prevent? autism by themselves. Rather they appear to influence risk in those genetically predisposed to the disorder.?

In a statement about the CDC?s research, the Autism Society of America said: ?This rise in prevalence does not signal an ?epidemic? as narratives are claiming ? it reflects diagnostic progress, and an urgent need for policy decisions rooted in science and the immediate needs of the autism community.?

The statement emphasized that the ?rise in prevalence likely reflects better awareness, improved screening tools, and stronger advocacy?.

Dr Peter Marks, who previously served as the FDA?s top vaccine official before stepping down due to RFK?s ?misinformation and lies?, recently expressed his scepticism about the health secretary?s promise to identify the causes of autism by September.

?If you just ask me, as a scientist, is it possible to get the answer that quickly? I don?t see any possible way,? Marks said in an interview with CBS?s Face the Nation.

He added: ?You can be incredibly supportive of people, but giving them false hope is wrong.?

Kennedy has a long history of suggesting a link between childhood vaccines and autism, despite a lack of scientific evidence, and many studies that have found there is no link.