By Katherine Tinsley
4:08am PDT, Apr 12, 2025
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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently took a controversial stance on autism — and it's not the first time the conspiracy theorist has spread misinformation about the disorder.
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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told Donald Trump that he's focused on understanding the cause of autism.
"We've launched a massive testing and research effort that's going to involve hundreds of scientists from around the world," the HHS secretary told the president during a Thursday, April 10, cabinet meeting. "By September, we will know what has caused the autism epidemic, and we'll be able to eliminate those exposures."
"It's a horrible statistic," Trump said in response to the most recent rate of autism diagnoses. "There's got to be something artificial out there that's doing this."
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The president later suggested that "maybe it's a shot" — specifically a vaccine — that causes autism.
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Despite Donald Trump's comments, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is under HHS, clearly states in their research that "vaccines are not associated" with autism.
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"We are going to look at vaccines, but we're going to look at everything," Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told his fellow cabinet members. "Everything is on the table: Our food system, our water, our air, different ways of parenting, all the kind of changes that may have triggered this epidemic."
"It is an epidemic. Epidemics are not caused by genes … you need an environmental toxin," the former environmental lawyer added, somewhat misleadingly.
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Even though Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been vocal about his views, he has claimed that he isn't "anti-vaccine."
"My position is people should get the measles vaccine," he told CBS News.
