Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Thursday that a new federal research initiative will deliver answers by September about what’s driving the nation’s growing autism rates.
Speaking during a televised Cabinet meeting at the White House, Kennedy described the effort as a top priority for the Trump administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” commission.
“We’ve launched a massive testing and research effort that’s going to involve hundreds of scientists from around the world,” Kennedy said. “By September, we will know what has caused the autism epidemic, and we will be able to eliminate those exposures.”
Kennedy, who has been a longtime critic of vaccine safety standards, is leading the project alongside other health officials appointed by President Trump.
The initiative, ordered by the president earlier this year, is examining not just autism but also asthma, ADHD diagnoses, and prescription drug use in children.
President Trump has repeatedly questioned whether artificial substances could be contributing to the rise in autism. “If you can come up with that answer where you stop taking something, you stop eating something, or maybe it’s a shot,” Trump said at the meeting. “But something’s causing it.”
Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has not declared autism an epidemic, it reports that approximately 1 in 36 children are now diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder—up from 1 in 44 just a few years ago, and 1 in 150 in the year 2000.
Kennedy has reportedly brought on David Geier, a controversial figure in the vaccine debate, to help lead the research.
Geier has long claimed a connection between mercury in vaccines and autism—an idea widely disputed by mainstream scientists and regulators. In 2012, Geier faced sanctions in Maryland for practicing medicine without a license.
Despite repeated studies finding no link between vaccines and autism, Kennedy and Trump argue that too many questions remain unanswered.
The federal government already spends hundreds of millions each year on autism research. The Autism CARES Act, extended by the previous administration in January, has authorized nearly $2 billion over five years.
Scientists continue to investigate a range of potential causes, including environmental exposures, genetics, metabolism, and brain development.
Kennedy’s commission, however, aims to deliver answers that past efforts have not. “There will be no bigger news conference than that,” Trump said. “If we can find the cause, we can protect our kids and turn the tide.”