Is There Truth Behind RFK Jr.’s Shocking Autism Statement?

Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert Francis Kennedy Jr. faces backlash after talking about the rise of autism rates in the U.S. Image Credits: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc./Getty Images

At his first news conference as head of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert Francis Kennedy Jr. also known by his initials RFK Jr., insisted that autism is “preventable” and part of a “chronic disease epidemic” that “destroys” children and families.

A new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that autism rates in eight-year-olds rose from 1 in 36 in 2020 to 1 in 31 in 2022. Experts say this continues with the long-term trend that they have attributed to better understanding and screening for the condition.

However, Kennedy rejected that concept, instead pushing the idea that “these are kids who will never pay taxes. They’ll never hold a job. They’ll never play baseball. They will never write a poem. They’ll never go out on a date. Many of them will never use a toilet unassisted. He added on saying the cause of autism is, “an environmental exposure. It has to be. Genes do not cause epidemics. They can provide a vulnerability, but you need an environmental toxin.”

Immediately after, countless testimonies came pouring in to refute Kennedy’s claims.

Autism has no identified single cause. Autism research has proven genetic components are linked to a higher likelihood of autism.

Dr. Lisa Settles, director of Tulane University’s Center for Autism and Related Disorders, has spent more than 20 years in autism research and worked with thousands of patients. “To me, it’s very obvious that [Kennedy] doesn’t know a lot about the diagnosis. He’s pulling things together into a theory that isn’t based in any ounce of science, and it’s really frustrating to those of us who are professionals.”

Kennedy’s comments on autism set the community back by at least a decade after the community’s hard work to change the stigma regarding autistic individuals.

By September of this year, Kennedy pledged to deliver “answers” about autism’s rise. Yet, there are mixed responses on the importance of searching for a cause when limited resources may be better spent understanding how to support living people with autism.