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Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. addressed the media on Wednesday for a special press conference providing updates on the autism epidemic in the United States, describing it as an “unrelenting upward trend.”
Kennedy held the media event in D.C., emphasizing rising autism rates and chastising the mainstream media for distorting the facts.
“There’s an extreme risk for boys overall – the risk for boys getting an autism diagnosis is now one in 20,” he said. He added that one in 12.5 boys already has an autism diagnosis, noting that “we need to move away from, today, this ideology” that the prevalence of autism is “simply artifacts of better diagnoses, better recognition or changing diagnostic criteria.”
Kennedy also referenced a report that revealed one in 31 children are now being diagnosed with autism in the United States, a statistic he called “shocking.”
He also questioned why epidemics such as measles get an immediate reaction, but issues like diabetes or autism take years to address.
While Kennedy agreed that autism rates are certainly at a “steady, relentless increase,” he criticized the media for propagating an “epidemic denial” based on “industry canard.”
Kennedy seemed to suggest that the media was refusing to look at the reasons behind autism rates, adding, “obviously, there are people who don’t want us to look at environmental exposures.”
Kennedy promised that within three weeks, HHS would announce a “series of new studies to identify precisely what the environmental toxins are that are causing [autism].”
He added, “This has NOT been done before, and we’re going to do it in a thorough and comprehensive way, and we’re going to get back…to the American people with an answer very quickly.”
Kennedy’s vow comes just a week after he announced during a cabinet meeting in Washington that HHS would be able to identify the cause of autism by September 2025.
“By September, we will know what has caused the autism epidemic,” he said.