Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has unveiled a list of potential "toxins" he believes may be fueling a surge of autism diagnoses across the United States.
Kennedy has expressed his intention to initiate a series of studies to investigate whether substances such as mold, pesticides, food chemicals, or medicines are contributing to the increased prevalence of the condition.
According to the Daily Mail, Kennedy has also proposed a fifth potential factor: ultrasound scans. He pointed out that the widespread use of this technology coincided with the rise in autism diagnoses in the 1980s. Kennedy further suggested that certain industries might be profiting from environmental toxins that are driving up autism diagnoses, a statement that seems to echo his skepticism towards vaccines and his campaign against artificial food ingredients.
This announcement follows a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) which indicated that the number of US children with autism had risen to one in 31 in 2022, up from one in 36 in 2020 and one in 56 in 2016. In contrast, early studies from the 1960s and 70s estimated autism rates to be as low as 1 in 5,000. While most researchers attribute this trend to improved screening and awareness, Kennedy argued that these factors only account for '10 to 20 percent' of cases.
"Doctors and therapists in the past weren't stupid. They weren't missing all these cases," Kennedy stated during an impromptu press conference. He dismissed the notion that the rise in autism rates is driven by genetic factors, asserting that "genes do not cause epidemics," and that the increase in autism "must be triggered or caused by environmental or risk factors."
Kennedy emphasized the need to shift away from the belief that the steady increase in autism prevalence is merely a result of better recognition and diagnostic criteria. "The epidemic is real. Only a small percentage can be charged to better recognition or better diagnostic criteria," he said. "The answer is very clear and this is catastrophic for our country."
In the coming weeks, Kennedy plans to announce a series of studies aimed at identifying the specific environmental toxins that may be contributing to the rise in autism. This stance puts him at odds with the researchers behind the recent CDC report, who suggested that the increase "might be due to differences in availability of services for early detection and evaluation and diagnostic practices." They also noted differences in insurance coverage.
However, Kennedy countered, "It's time for everyone to stop attributing this rise to epidemic denial. External factors, environmental exposures, that's where we're going to find the answer." He assured that "we will have some answers by September... there will be an answer for the American people very, very quickly."
Despite Kennedy's confidence, Dr. Peter Marks, the FDA's former top vaccine official, warned that the project's hurried timeline and inherent biases could lead to flawed results. Kennedy has appointed David Geier, known for promoting the debunked theory linking vaccines to autism, to lead the initiative.
The CDC report released earlier this week examined autism rates in 16 monitoring sites across the US to predict the overall figure for the rest of the nation. The study focused on children aged four to eight living in those areas in 2022. Children were considered autistic if they had a diagnosis or were receiving special education for the condition. Four-year-olds who didn't have a diagnosis but showed signs of autism were labeled as 'suspected' cases.
While the overall rate was one in 31 children in 2022, boys remained at an increased risk. Overall, one in 20 eight-year-old boys were diagnosed with autism in 2022, but in places like California, it was as common as one in 13. Kennedy referred to the risk for boys as 'extreme.'
Kennedy also suggested that not only are autism cases becoming more prevalent, but they are also becoming more severe. He stated that about one in four autistic children are 'profoundly' disabled, meaning they are nonverbal and may be completely dependent on others for basic care. "Autism destroys families and more importantly destroys our greatest resource which is children," he said.
While the CDC report's researchers suggested that improvements in early identification of autism "have been apparent" in recent years and could explain the rise, Kennedy estimated that as many as 85 percent of cases could instead be linked to environmental exposures. "We have to recognize we are doing this to our children and we need to put an end to it," he said.
Research from institutions such as Harvard has found that exposure to air pollution like particulate matter in early childhood may increase the risk of autism by as much as 64 percent. Exposure in the womb may raise the risk of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) by 31 percent. An Australian study published earlier this year also found that boys exposed to the endocrine-disrupting chemical Bisphenol A (BPA) in the womb were six times more likely to be diagnosed with autism before age 11 than those without exposure.
The US has also seen a surge in the use of synthetic pesticides, which some suggest could be a contributing factor. The use of these chemicals has increased 50-fold since 1950. Some research indicates that up to 80 percent of Americans have detectable levels of pesticides in their blood.
Last year, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced an emergency suspension of the pesticide dimethyl tetrachloroterephthalate (DCPA or Dacthal) due to evidence suggesting that babies exposed to it in the womb could be born underweight and with a decreased IQ and development.
Dr. Walter Zahorodny of Rutgers University in New Jersey, who co-authored the CDC report and joined Kennedy at the press conference, said: "There is better recognition because there are more children with autism. It's not better awareness pushing the increase." This statement underscores the importance of Kennedy's initiative to investigate the potential environmental causes of the rising autism rates.
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