Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gave a speech in which he called autism "preventable" and vowed to prioritize a hunt for environmental causes, drawing ire and condemnation from researchers into neurodivergence, reported The New York Times on Wednesday.
Kennedy has long pushed conspiracy theories linking autism to vaccination, an idea based on a long-discredited, fraudulent study that has no evidence to support it. He has halfheartedly tried to show his support for vaccination, in the midst of a deadly Texas measles outbreak, and did not mention vaccines at his autism speech, but still pushed a number of ideas scientists dispute.
"Mr. Kennedy made his comments at a news conference, responding to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showing that rates of autism had increased to one in 31 among 8-year-olds, continuing a long-running trend," said the report. "Blaming environmental risk factors for the uptick, he accused the media and the public of succumbing to a 'myth of epidemic denial' when it came to autism. He also called research into the genetic factors that scientists say play a vital role in whether a child will develop autism 'a dead end.'" He added. “Genes don’t cause epidemics. You need an environmental toxin.”
Researchers studying the issue have pointed out that much of this is wrong.
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Arizona State University researcher Dr. Joshua Anbar, who helped gather autism data for the CDC, called Kennedy's claims "ridiculous," and said, “Autism is not an infectious disease. So there aren’t preventive measures that we can take.”
Meanwhile, University of Wisconsin-Madison Dr. Maureen Durkin, a pediatric and population science professor, said contrary to Kennedy's denials, screening and better recognition played a large role in the uptick, and “The more you look for it, the more you find.”
Outside of screening, genetics is known to play a factor, as shown in fraternal twin studies, and the age of the parents also seems to play a role.
Meanwhile, other experts pointed out Kennedy's push for environmental cause research could divert funding away from initiatives to support people with autism in schools and the workplace.
“We are being set up to look up in the wrong place, to put our money in the wrong place,” said psychiatry professor Dr. David Mandell of the University of Pennsylvania.