Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says US autism cases are climbing at an 'alarming rate'

WASHINGTON – Health caput Robert F. Kennedy Jr. warned that children successful the U.S. are being diagnosed with autism astatine an “alarming rate,” promising connected Wednesday to behaviour exhaustive studies to place immoderate biology factors that whitethorn origin the developmental disorder.

His telephone comes the time aft the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a study that found an estimated 1 successful 31 U.S. children person autism, a marked summation from 2020.

“Autism destroys families," Kennedy said. "More importantly, it destroys our top resource, which is our children. These are children who should not beryllium suffering similar this.”

Kennedy described autism arsenic a “preventable disease,” though researchers and scientists person identified familial factors that are associated with it. Autism is not considered a disease, but a analyzable upset that affects the brain. Cases scope wide successful severity, with symptoms that tin see delays successful language, learning, and societal oregon affectional skills. Some autistic traits tin spell unnoticed good into adulthood.

Those who person spent decades researching autism person recovered nary azygous cause. Besides genetics, scientists person identified assorted imaginable factors, including the property of a child’s father, the mother’s weight, and whether she had diabetes oregon was exposed to definite chemicals.

Kennedy said his wide-ranging program to find the origin of autism volition look astatine each of those biology factors, and others. He had antecedently acceptable a September deadline for determining what causes autism, but said Wednesday that by then, his section volition find astatine slightest “some” of the answers.

The effort volition impact issuing grants to universities and researchers, Kennedy said. He said the researchers volition beryllium encouraged to “follow the science, nary substance what it says.”

The Trump medication has precocious canceled billions of dollars successful grants for wellness and subject probe sent to universities.

The CDC’s latest autism data was from 14 states and Puerto Rico successful 2022. The erstwhile estimation — from 2020 — was 1 successful 36.

Boys proceed to beryllium diagnosed much than girls, and the highest rates are among children who are Asian/Pacific Islander, American Indian/Alaska Native and Black.

To estimation how communal autism is, the CDC checked wellness and schoolhouse records for 8-year-olds, due to the fact that astir cases are diagnosed by that age. Other researchers person their ain estimates, but experts accidental the CDC’s estimation is the astir rigorous and the golden standard.

On Wednesday, Kennedy criticized theories that the emergence successful autism cases tin beryllium attributed to much consciousness astir the disorder. Autism researchers person cited heightened awareness, arsenic good arsenic aesculapian advancements and accrued diagnoses of mild cases.

“The reasons for increases successful autism diagnosis travel down to technological and wellness attraction progress,” said Annette Estes, manager of the autism halfway astatine the University of Washington. "It's hard for galore radical to recognize this due to the fact that the causes of autism are complex.”

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Associated Press writers JoNel Aleccia successful Temecula, California, and Mike Stobbe successful Atlanta contributed to this report.

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