RFK Jr. Is using a new study on autism rates to push his anti-vaccine agenda

In a press conference Wednesday morning that surely delighted his allies in the anti-vaccine movement, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. responded to a report about apparent rising autism rates with a vow to look at “environmental factors” as a possible cause. While Kennedy didn’t explicitly discuss vaccines, his remarks made it clear, again, that he’ll likely use the power and money of the federal government to prop up the long-debunked claim that vaccines cause autism. He also repeatedly made crude and stigmatizing references to people with profound autism (which he calls “severe” autism, an outdated term) painting a picture of such people as a burden on society and to their families. 

“These are kids who will never pay taxes,” Kennedy declared. “They’ll never hold a job. They’ll never play baseball. They’ll never write a poem. They’ll never go out on a date. Many of them will never use a toilet unassisted. We have to recognize we are doing this to our children.” 

“The epidemic,” Kennedy said at another point, “is real.” Autism, he added, “destroys families and more importantly it destroys our greatest resource, our children.” Many children, he claimed, were “fully functional” and “regressed.” 

RFK Jr. called today’s press conference to discuss new findings published this week in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, which found an increase in apparent autism rates, from 1 in 36 children to 1 in 31. The report, based on 2022 data, found that the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder was higher in 8-year-old children than in previous years, and higher in Black, Hispanic and Asian Pacific Islander children than in white children.

Kennedy made it clear that he believes “environmental factors” are driving the increase in the condition, not genetics. In his previous role as chairman of Children’s Health Defense, Kennedy repeatedly claimed that vaccines cause autism, which they do not, and accused the CDC of lying to “minimize the crisis.” (Among other things, a massive study of 10 million children published in Denmark in 2019 showed no link between the MMR vaccine and autism.)

From the podium on Wednesday, Kennedy declared that “overall, autism is increasing in prevalence at an alarming rate” and called it “shocking” and “relentless.” He added, again, and without apparent basis, that “most causes are now severe” and insisted that 25 percent of boys diagnosed with autism “are non-verbal, non toilet-trained and have other stereotypical features” including “stimming and toe-walking,” traits he has brought up frequently in past remarks and cast in a negative light. (Stimming can be a self-soothing behavior, but autistic adults have reported trying to mask it to reduce stigma from others.)

“Obviously there are people who don’t want us to look at environmental exposures,” he proclaimed. He said that the newly created Administration for a Healthy America (AHA), which part of HHS, would be responsible for overseeing autism rates. The AHA merged several previously independent offices; HHS has also faced deep cuts and layoffs throughout the agency. Kennedy said future autism studies may look at medication, mold, food addivities, air and water pollution and advanced parental age as other possible factors.

There’s long been a scientific debate about how much of the rise in apparent autism rates is due to better diagnosis and detection, with most serious researchers agreeing that better screening plays a major role. Kennedy rejected the idea that autism increases are the result of enhanced diagnostic criteria or better detection. He also trotted out a new phrase, “epidemic denial,” that he clearly plans to use against scientists and media outlets who disagree with his framing of autism rates or their potential causes. At several points, he called people who question or contextualize increased autism rates “deniers” and said they are engaging in “the myth of epidemic denial.”  (Kennedy himself has dabbled in AIDS denialism.) 

At the conference, Kennedy also briefly ceded the podium to Rutgers autism researcher Walter Zahorodny, who, among other things, also declared that autism is “real” and “not a quirky personality” trait, and concurred with Kennedy that the CDC report did not simply show better detection but a true increase in autism rates. It “strongly suggests that not only is this a high point in autism prevalence, but in the future rates can only be higher” he added.

The Autistic Self-Advocacy Network said in a press release that the new data is “explained by better access to screening and improved understanding of autism.” The group added that more work needs to be done to address the economic and racial disparities that affect which kids receive early, accurate autism diagnoses; for instance, a higher income was related to “a higher diagnosis rate for Black, Hispanic, and Asian and Pacific Islander children.”

”We will continue to advocate to address diagnostic disparities, improve access to diagnosis and support, and protect the programs and services that make this possible,” ASN added. 

Responding to Kennedy’s characterizations of autistic people, Alycia Halladay, the chief science officer at the Autism Science Foundation, told Mother Jones that Kennedy “failed to recognize the diverse spectrum of autism.” Of the apparent increase in autism rates, she said, “All of the scientific evidence points to an improvement in access to services as being a driving force,” adding, “Also, about 20% of autism is caused by a known genetic variant, and there is no evidence that 85% of the increase in prevalence is due to environmental ‘toxins.’”

Kennedy has previously vowed to find the cause of rising autism rates by September, which is not how science works. At the conference today, he seemed to slightly walk back that pledge, saying he expected to see “some answers” by September and vowing to “remove the taboo” so that scientists could freely study this issue, which he implied they could not do previously without being “gaslit” or having their licenses taken away. 

To add to the concern that any RFK-led studies won’t be serious ones, the Washington Post reported in March that HHS hired David Geier to study vaccine-autism data. Geier is a longtime anti-vaccine figure who, with his father, former physician Mark Geier, purported to study autism and often acted as expert witnesses in cases of alleged vaccine injury. David Geier was disciplined by the Maryland Board of Physicians in 2012 for practicing medicine without a license, while his father’s license was revoked. Neither David Geier nor HHS have responded to repeated requests for comment from Mother Jones. Kennedy promised on Wednesday that HHS’ autism studies would be “thorough and comprehensive.”