According to NPR, on April 16, 2025 U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stated that autism is a rapidly growing “epidemic” in the U.S. and vowed to identify the “environmental toxin” he says is to blame, calling it “a preventable disease.” In addition, he said that within two to three weeks HHS will announce a series of new studies “to identify precisely what the environmental toxins are that are causing” autism, adding “we’re going to get back to it with an answer to the American people very, very quickly.” HHS also announced it expects to begin to have answers by this September.
However, some experts and advocates have cautioned that such a short time span is inadequate to design and conduct a study that could produce a reliable answer.
Kennedy also made remarks that were stigmatizing, inaccurate, and dehumanizing with regard to autistic people.
Further, although Kennedy was adamant that environmental causes are driving the increase in autism diagnoses, an April 17, 2025 CDC report has indicated that better screening may play a large role. The report also notes that differences in the prevalence across communities “might be due to differences in availability of services for early detection and evaluation and diagnostic practices.”
To make matters worse are proposed cuts to Medicaid, which some autistic people depend on, and the dismantling of the Administration for Community Living, a sub-agency of HHS.