The main health official of the nation promises to determine in this fall why autism rates have increased in recent decades.
In a cabinet meeting on Thursday, the Secretary of Health and Human Services of the United States said that his agency is working to find out what is behind the rapid increase in the prevalence of development disability and promised with a beach deadline to reach a conclusion.
«We have launched a massive effort of evidence and research that will involve hundreds of scientists around the world,» Kennedy told President Donald Trump and other senior federal officials. «For September we will know what the autism epidemic has caused and we can eliminate those exhibitions.»
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Autism rates have increased from 1 in 150 American children in 2000 to 1 in 36 currently, according to disease control and prevention centers. Kennedy said at the cabinet meeting that he expects the rate to increase to 1 in 31.
«There will not be a bigger press conference than that, if you can find that answer,» Trump said in response to Kennedy’s promise to identify the cause. «Where you stop taking something, you stop eating something or maybe it’s an opportunity, but something is causing it.»
Experts attribute the jump in the prevalence of autism to better consciousness, improvements tools and methods of detection and changes in diagnostic criteria.
«There are many causes of autism,» according to autism. «Research suggests that autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) develops from a combination of: genetic influences and environmental influences, including social determinants.»
Kennedy, however, has spent years promoting a link between autism and vaccines despite the numerous studies that discredit that theory. During his confirmation audience to lead the HHS, he refused to reject such points of view.
More recently, under Kennedy’s leadership, HHS said the CDCs are planning a great study that examines the connection between autism and vaccines. The Washington Post information that the agency has taken advantage of David Geier’s skeptical vaccine to direct the study. Geier, who has been disciplined by the state of Maryland to practice medicine without a license, and his father has published documents that claim an association between vaccines and autism, according to the newspaper.
The National Autism Defense Groups, including the speech of Autism, the Autism Society of America, the Autistic Auto Defender Network and the Foundation of Autism Sciences, have affirmed that vaccines do not cause autism.
«RFK Jr.’s comment is a clear sign that HHS intends to produce fraudulent and fraudulent investigations that support the pre -existing beliefs of Kennedy and Trump in a relationship between autism and vaccines,» said the autistic self -life network in a statement.
«It seems quite clear that he is advancing with the rush of misinformation to the public about the alleged causes of autism,» said Colin Killick, executive director of the non -profit organization, who described the timeline that Kennedy is proposing «too fast for any genuine scientific research that is carried out.»
