CV NEWS FEED // U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced April 10 that the federal government will identify the cause of autism by September.
“By September, we will know what has caused the autism epidemic, and we’ll be able to eliminate those exposures,” Kennedy said during a cabinet meeting with President Donald Trump, Reuters reported.
The research effort will involve hundreds of scientists from across the globe, he said, and will consider a wide range of possible factors — environmental, dietary, medical, and more.
Autism rates among American children have surged in recent decades — from 1 in 150 in 2000 to 1 in 36 by 2020, according to the CDC. While some experts cite better diagnosis and broader criteria as partial explanations, the sheer scale of the increase has left many parents and researchers asking questions.
Kennedy emphasized the need for an honest and thorough inquiry.
“We’re going to look at vaccines, but we’re going to look at everything. Everything is on the table — our food system, our water, our air, different ways of parenting, all the kind of changes that may have triggered this epidemic,” he said, according to Reuters.
The federal initiative is part of Trump’s Make America Healthy Again Commission, charged with re-evaluating a range of children’s health issues, from autism and asthma to the widespread use of ADHD medications.
Trump voiced support for the effort in February, telling Kennedy: “There’s got to be something artificial out there that’s doing this. There will be no bigger news conference than when you come up with that answer.”
>> CDC to ‘leave no stone unturned’ in mission to study why autism rate has ‘skyrocketed’ <<
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