Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced on Wednesday the Trump administration plans to release a series of studies to help identify “precisely what environmental toxins” are causing autism.
Kennedy is tackling one of the issues he promised to address as part of the greater mission to Make America Healthy Again. He discussed the stunning autism rates offered by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday, which found that 1 in 31 children in the U.S. have autism, reflecting yet another rise in what Kennedy is now describing as an “epidemic.”
WATCH — HHS Sec. RFK Jr. Holds News Conference on Autism:
Per the CDC:
Results: Among children aged 8 years in 2022, ASD prevalence was 32.2 per 1,000 children (one in 31) across the 16 sites, ranging from 9.7 in Texas (Laredo) to 53.1 in California. The overall observed prevalence estimate was similar to estimates calculated using Bayesian hierarchical and random effects models. ASD was 3.4 times as prevalent among boys (49.2) than girls (14.3). Overall, ASD prevalence was lower among non-Hispanic White (White) children (27.7) than among Asian or Pacific Islander (A/PI) (38.2), American Indian or Alaska Native (AI/AN) (37.5), non-Hispanic Black or African American (Black) (36.6), Hispanic or Latino (Hispanic) (33.0), and multiracial children (31.9). No association was observed between ASD prevalence and neighborhood median household income (MHI) at 11 sites; higher ASD prevalence was associated with lower neighborhood MHI at five sites.
The CDC identified a pattern of rates going up from previous years.
“In 2009, the California State Legislature charged the MIND Institute at UC Davis with — because this myth was already becoming pervasive, and the myth of epidemic denial was already becoming pervasive in the mainstream media — the California legislature directed the MIND Institute at UC Davis to answer the question,” he said, noting that a highly esteemed and revered scientist, neurologist, and epidemiologist delivered a definitive answer.
“The epidemic is real,” Kennedy said, noting there are plenty of other studies that affirm this notion.
“Instead of listening to this canard of epidemic denial, all you have to do is start reading a little science, because the answer is very clear, and this is catastrophic for our country,” Kennedy continued, citing another recent study that found the cost of treating autism in the U.S. by 2035 will be one trillion dollars per year.
WATCH:
“This is added to already astronomical healthcare costs. And then there’s an individual injury. These are kids that — this is a preventable disease. We know it’s an environmental exposure. It has to be. Genes do not cause epidemics,” Kennedy said.
“It can provide a vulnerability, but you need an environmental toxin,” he said, concluding that they are determined to get to the bottom of this epidemic.
As a result, within three weeks, Kennedy’s team hopes to “announce a series of new studies to identify precisely what the environmental toxins are that are causing it.”
“This has not been done before, and we’re going to do it in a thorough and comprehensive way, and we’re going to get back to …. an answer to the American people, very, very quickly,” he vowed.
WATCH:
