U.S. President Donald Trump claimed autism in children may be “artificially induced” at a recent White House press conference.
Standing beside Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump pointed to a rise in autism diagnoses as evidence of an external cause.
“When you hear 10,000, it was 1 in 10,000, and now it’s 1 in 31 for autism, I think that’s just a terrible thing,” Trump said to a room full of reporters. “It has to be something on the outside, has to be artificially induced, has to be.”
Highlights
- President Trump claimed autism in children may be 'artificially induced,' citing rising diagnosis rates as evidence of external causes.
- A new MAHA Commission report links autism to processed foods, environmental toxins, and over-medicalization.
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic, suggested a vaccine-autism link.
- CDC states 1 in 31 children have autism, attributing the rise to better screening and no single known cause yet identified.
Donald Trump claimed that autism in children may be ‘artificially induced’
Image credits: The White House/ Flickr
The statement came during the launch of the first report by the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission. The release included an assessment “exposing root causes of childhood chronic disease crisis.”
The report names poor diet, processed foods, environmental toxins, insufficient physical activity, chronic stress, and over-medicalization as potential contributors to rising health problems in U.S. children.
“We will follow the truth wherever it leads, uphold rigorous science, and drive bold policies that put the health, development, and future of every child first,” Kennedy said. “We will end the childhood chronic disease crisis by attacking its root causes head-on—not just managing its symptoms.”
The report suggests links between autism and food dyes or environmental toxins, which has been criticized by autism advocates and researchers.
While the report stops short of explicitly blaming vaccines, RFK Jr., a known vaccine skeptic, used what many are calling a flawed research paper to allude to this connection back in January.
Talking about vaccines, the report notes, “Many [parents] have concerns about the appropriate use of vaccines and their possible role in the growing childhood chronic disease crisis.”
The report also called prescribing children pharmaceuticals—including ADHD medicines, antidepressants, asthma, and GLP-1 drugs—“misaligned incentives” in the health-care system.
It uses evidence from research showing there is no benefit of using antipsychotic antidepressant medicine in children.
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 1 in 31 children were identified as having autism spectrum disorder—a rate that has increased over the years due to improved screening and broader diagnostic criteria.
While definitive research is still on the way, Johns Hopkins, a health research university, has been studying the genetic and environmental factors that contribute to autism.
“We are learning even more about environmental risk factors, primarily exposures occurring during fetal growth,” its website states.
“For example, there has been strong evidence implicating exposure to air pollution during pregnancy, as well as exposure to pesticides during pregnancy.”
The MAHA report outlines processed food, environmental toxins, and over-medicalization as contributors to rising health problems in American kids
Image credits: The White House/ Flickr
The report’s release comes as the administration proposes a $94 billion budget for HHS next year—a 26% cut that would reduce funding for the CDC and National Institutes of Health.
In a related move, the Food and Drug Administration recently announced plans to phase out petroleum-based artificial dyes in food, citing potential behavioral effects in children.
The commission has 100 days to turn its findings into policy recommendations.
Image credits: The White House/ Flickr
RFK Jr. has pushed health regulators to phase out any supplements containing fluoride that are often used to strengthen children’s teeth, PBS reported.
He has claimed that the mineral is making Americans stupid.
“The more you get, the stupider you are,” he said.
While RFK Jr. promotes the MAHA agenda, critics have said his actions contradict public health advice.