Overview

• During a televised cabinet meeting Tuesday, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said his agency will announce next month that it has identified certain interventions "almost certainly" causing autism.
• President Donald Trump called autism a "tremendous horror show," asserted "there has to be something artificially causing this," and urged Kennedy to release findings quickly.
• CDC data show 1 in 31 U.S. children were diagnosed by age 8 in 2022, while researchers attribute much of the rise to broader diagnostic criteria and improved detection rather than a single new exposure.
• Autism scientists and advocates criticized the plan to unveil conclusions at a press event, with Boston University’s Helen Tager-Flusberg saying the approach bypasses peer review and "is not science."
• HHS actions reported this week include terminating about $6.9 million in autism-related grants and dismantling a NIOSH program, while Kennedy has appointed vaccine critic David Geier to a related study.