Kennedy confirms HHS is on track to reveal causes of autism in September

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., on Tuesday confirmed to President Donald Trump that his department is still on track to publish information identifying "interventions" that are contributing to a rise in autism.

Kennedy first announced a joint research effort to find the root causes of autism in April as part of the Trump administration's "Make America Healthy Again" mission. One-in-36 children have autism spectrum disorder, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report in 2020.

Trump also established a commission in February that would look at everything from the rates of autism and asthma in children to how much medicine is being prescribed to children for ADHD or other conditions.

The update comes after Trump asked Kennedy how the research was going during a Cabinet meeting at the White House, according to The Hill. 

“We are doing very well,” Kennedy said. "We will have announcements as promised in September, finding interventions, certain interventions, now that are clearly almost certainly causing autism. And we’re going to be able to address those in September.”

Kennedy also repeated his stance that outside factors, such as environmental factors or vaccines, are responsible for the rise in cases. Health experts, however, have largely cited an increase in awareness of the disorder for the rise in diagnosis, along with a broadening of criteria for the disorder and an improvement in detecting autism.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.