In announcing new autism prevalence data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. distorted scientific research to argue that there is an “epidemic” of autism that must be due to an “environmental toxin.”
Issues: autism
FactChecking Trump’s Address to Congress
FactChecking RFK Jr.’s Other Health Claims During HHS Confirmation Hearings
RFK Jr. Cites Flawed Paper Claiming Link Between Vaccines and Autism in HHS Confirmation Hearing
In his second day of confirmation hearings, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, refused to say that vaccines do not cause autism — despite a large body of evidence showing there is no link. He also pointed to a flawed paper to suggest that there is credible evidence to claim vaccines cause the disorder.
Whoppers of 2024
FactChecking Trump’s ‘Meet the Press’ Interview
Sen. Mullin’s Misleading Vaccine Testing Claim
As Trump Taps RFK Jr. for Health Secretary, a Look Back at Kennedy’s Claims
Trump Embraces RFK Jr.’s Views on Vaccines, Fluoride
RFK Jr.’s Exaggerations on Chronic Disease in Children
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has given children’s health and the “chronic disease epidemic” a prominent role in his campaign. Diagnoses of a variety of chronic conditions in children have increased in recent decades, but likely not to the extent that Kennedy claims or for the reasons he gives.