US Health and Human Services reported autism prevalence rose from one in 150 eight-year-olds in 2000 to one in 31 in 2022. HHS characterized the increase as an 'epidemic' attributed to 'an environmental toxin' and announced a forthcoming study. The NIH launched the Autism Data Science Initiative with up to US$50 million for causal studies. Many researchers expressed concern that the initiative overlooked decades of work showing genetics plays a larger role than proposed environmental causes. Population studies have linked a few prenatal environmental factors to increased autism risk, but causal roles remain difficult to establish. Rising prevalence largely reflects increased diagnoses rather than a true epidemic.
On 16 April, Robert F. Kennedy Jr held a press conference about rising diagnoses of autism. The US Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary pointed to new data showing that autism prevalence in the United States had risen steeply from one in 150 eight-year-olds in 2000 to one in 31 in 2022. He called it an "epidemic" caused by "an environmental toxin" - and said he would soon be announcing a study to find the responsible agent.
Many were dismayed that these developments seemed to ignore decades of work on the well-documented rise in autism diagnoses and on causes of the developmental condition. Although Kennedy said that environmental factors are the main cause of autism, research has shown that genetics plays a bigger part. Population studies have linked a handful of environmental factors - mostly encountered during pregnancy - to increased chances of autism, but their precise role has been hard to pin down.
Collection
[
|
...
]