United States: According to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a major commitment has been announced at Thursday’s Cabinet meeting at the White House, saying that his agency would “know what has caused the autism epidemic” by September.
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As Kennedy mentioned, HHS had launched, at President Donald Trump’s direction, a large research effort involving “hundreds of scientists from around the world” to look into the increasing rates of autism diagnoses.
“At your direction, we are going to know by September,” as Kennedy mentioned.
“We’ve launched a massive testing and research effort that’s going to involve hundreds of scientists from around the world,” he added.
Furthermore, “In September, we will know what has caused the autism epidemic, and we’ll be able to eliminate those exposures,” he continued.
Trump commends Kennedy
According to ABC News reports, Trump commended Kennedy on the September goal, speculating, without scientific backing, where the solution to driving down rates could be “you stop taking something, you stop eating something or maybe it’s a shot, but something’s causing it.”
Kennedy and Trump dedicated their attention to understanding why autism cases have increased in the United States population.
The cause of autism has been researched by scientists through many decades, which led to the identification of genetics and additional factors possibly contributing to autism development.
Possible sources explaining the rise in autism diagnosis over the last twenty years include broader diagnostic criteria and expanded services that enable healthcare professionals to identify more cases.
Something unidentified still might be contributing to raising autism rates.
Autism diagnosis in children born during 1992 existed in one out of every 150 individuals based on 2000 statistics.
CDC data reveals that the diagnosis rate of 1 in 36 children born in 2012 has reached 1 in 36 by the year 2020, as ABC News reported.
New CDC data caused Kennedy to predict that the autism diagnosis rate has climbed to 1 in 31 children.