Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of Health and Human Services, appeared to shift the timeline on his pledge to determine the cause of autism during a half-hour interview with CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins on Thursday. Kennedy, who has long been known for promoting controversial views, including vaccine skepticism, had previously committed to releasing definitive findings by September.
But under Collins’ repeated questioning, that commitment appeared to waver. “Is that still the timeline that you are sticking with?” Collins asked, referring to Kennedy’s prior assertion that a report identifying the cause of autism would be released in September.
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“We will have some studies completed by September. And those studies will mainly be replication studies of studies that have already been done. But we’re also deploying new teams of scientists — 15 groups of scientists. We’re going to send those grants out to bid within three weeks,” Kennedy responded.
When pressed on why the studies would focus on replication, Kennedy defended the methodology as essential to sound science. “If you don’t have replication, you don’t know whether other scientists, looking at the same data, will arrive at the same conclusion. Good science always includes replication,” he explained. “In fact, we’re changing the procedures at NIH so that up to 20% of the funding at NIH is for replication.
If you don’t have replication, you have incentives to cheat. And there’s a lot of cheating that goes on in science.” However, Collins highlighted Kennedy’s earlier claim that “by September, we will know what has caused the autism epidemic and will be able to eliminate those exposures.” In response, Kennedy conceded that full answers would likely take longer.
“We’ll have some of the information. To get the most solid information, it will probably take us another six months,” he admitted. Still, Collins pressed further. “So parents should not expect to know what causes autism by September?” she asked.
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Kennedy reiterated his position without offering a clear timeline. “We’re going to replicate some of the studies that have already been done… And then we’ll know a lot more afterward.” When asked if March next year would be a more realistic target, Kennedy responded, “As I said, it’s about six months after September. A lot of these studies will begin coming back.”
The interview comes as new data from federal health officials shows that 1 in 31 children in the U.S. is now diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, up from the previous estimate of 1 in 36, underscoring the urgency and complexity of the issue.
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