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By Mandy Taheri and Gabe Whisnant
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Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said during a Cabinet meeting Thursday that the United States would know the cause of what he called an "autism epidemic" by September.
Newsweek reached out to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for comment.
Why It Matters
Kennedy, who has pledged to "Make America Healthy Again," has frequently spread health misinformation, including claims linking vaccines to autism, a connection that has been widely discredited by scientific research.
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What To Know
"The autism rates have gone from—our most recent numbers we think are going to be about 1 in 31, so they are going up again, from 1 in 10,000 when I was a kid," Kennedy said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 1 in 36 children have been identified with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Its data going back to 2000 reported that 1 in 150 children was diagnosed with autism.
Kennedy was born in 1954 when autism wasn't yet labeled as a separate diagnosis, and testing was limited.
Dr. Alex Kolevzon, clinical director of Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, told Newsweek that the increase in autism diagnosis is partially due to "new iteration[s] of the diagnostic manual," with the diagnostic criteria "steadily" broadening.
"We are also diagnosing autism at younger ages due to effective screening based on recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics," Kolevzon said. "Finally, there have been major changes in laws and cultural attitudes that have made educational accommodations and behavioral therapies more readily available to affected children, thereby driving diagnostic patterns."
All of these factors, he says, have "contributed significantly to rising prevalence rates."
...
Autisfm Speaks, a nonprofit dedicated to autism awareness and research, said, "The increase in ASD diagnoses among young adults suggests that people may be going undiagnosed in childhood, only receiving a diagnosis in early adulthood when challenges in daily life become too difficult to manage."
A spokesperson for Autism Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) told Newsweek that "there is no autism epidemic," a stance many autism advocacy organizations take, instead pointing to under or misdiagnosing in previous years.
"We have come a long way in our understanding of autism, and better understanding has led to higher rates of diagnosis. This is nothing to panic about, and it certainly isn't proof of an environmental cause of autism," the spokesperson said.
Kennedy said Thursday: "At your direction, we are going to know by September. We've launched a massive testing and research effort that's going to involve hundreds of scientists from around the world. By September, we will know what has caused the autism epidemic and we will be able to eliminate those exposures."
President Donald Trump responded to Kennedy's comments, saying, "That's a horrible statistic, isn't it?"
Trump asked Kennedy, "There's got to be something artificial out there that's doing this, so you think you're gonna have a pretty good idea?"
Kennedy reaffirmed: "we will know by September."
Trump added to vaccine skepticism, saying the findings will inform people to "stop taking something, you stop eating something, or maybe it's a shot. Something's causing it."
"Stoking fears of an epidemic, especially with falsified claims about an association with childhood vaccines, is scientifically unfounded," Kolevzon said.
The president's close adviser, billionaire Elon Musk, has publicly discussed having Asperger's Syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder.
What People Are Saying
David Fisman, a physician and professor of epidemiology at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, previously told Newsweek: "It's highly likely given the fall-off in vaccination rates, the proliferation of anti-vax disinformation, and the apparent disassembly of a lot of federal public health capacity in the U.S. over the past month, that this [measles] outbreak will grow, and that we'll see similar outbreaks elsewhere in Texas and in the U.S."
Documentary producer A.J. Perez said on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday: "Neurodivergent people (like me) have always existed. RFK Jr. and anyone who thinks he will get to the bottom of the increased prevalence of autism are clowns. I was diagnosed ADHD before the 'H' was added in 1987. Research, diagnosis and treatment leads to more diagnoses."
What Happens Next
Last month, several reports indicated that the CDC is moving forward with a study examining potential connections between vaccines and autism despite being widely debunked.
Correction 4/11/25, 11:04 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with the correct year that RFK Jr. was born.
Update 4/11/25, 11:04 a.m. ET: This article was updated to clarify that Dr. Fisman was speaking about measles.
Update 4/10/25, 4:11 p.m. ET: This article was updated with comments from Autism Self Advocacy Network and Dr. Alex Kolevzon and additional information.
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