USA: RFK Jr contradicts experts by linking autism rise to ‘environmental toxins’

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.

“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 1 in 36 children to 1 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”.

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 emphasised that the “rise in prevalence likely reflects better awareness, improved screening tools, and stronger advocacy”.

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Source: The Guardian, 16 April 2025