Macon, Ga. (WGXA) — Robert F. Kennedy, Jr’s quest to find the cause of autism is causing concern for folks here in Middle Georgia.
The Secretary of Health and Human Services appeared before reporters on Wednesday to discuss the CDC’s most updated Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Survey.
Kennedy discussed a variety of things, including that autism is quote a “preventable disease” and believes there are a variety of factors contributing to an “epidemic.”
The results revealed that one in every 31 kids will be diagnosed with autism – up slightly from 1 in 36 in 2020.
This number is much higher from 1 in 150 around the turn of the century, according to the research.
Kennedy believes it’s the environment that’s causing the rising numbers.
“And we’re going to look at all the potential culprits,” he said. “We’re going to look at mold, we’re going to look at food additives, we’re going to look at pesticides, we’re going to look at air and water.”
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Dr. Sarah Rotschafer, a professor at Mercer University’s School of Medicine in Savannah, explained that researchers do have to be aware of environmental factors.
However. she doesn’t think that the ones Kennedy mentioned have much scientific backing.
“In terms of things like food additives, I don’t think there’s anything that’s terribly credible right now,” Rotschafer said. “Just things that are lurking in the environment, I don’t know.”
Kennedy also made comments on autism destroying families.
“These are kids who should not be suffering like this,” Kennedy said. “Who will never pay taxes, they’ll never hold a job, they’ll never play baseball, they’ll never write a poem, they’ll never go out on a date, many of them will never use a toilet unassisted.”
This struck close to home with Shelley Price, a mom of a 17-year-old autistic son, Mason.
“The constant need to give it context in a negative or a positive light, it just is what it is,” Price said. “It’s just a different way to see the world and feel the world and interpret the world and be in the world…”
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Rotschafer said that the numbers may look different now, but that’s because people are getting better at spotting autistic traits.
“The gains seem to be more in kids who are maybe showing less extreme behaviors,” she said. “I do think it’s more of results of just better diagnosis, better detection, better autism awareness within society.”
Kennedy said it’s his goal to find a cause for autism by September, telling reporters that it will be a global effort involving a variety of tests.
“I feel like there could not possibly be just one cause for autism,” Price said. “There’s just a lot of things involved in that.”
Rotschafer also told WGXA that a September solution does not seem likely, given the steps of getting grants and discuss the research that will happen with those grants.
