Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Photo:
John Lamparski/Getty
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is amassing private medical records of Americans for a new autism study
- This includes data from pharmacy chains, lab tests, smartwatches and more
- The HHS secretary is also launching a registry that will track Americans with autism
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of health and human services, is set to amass the private medical records of Americans for a new autism study.
On April 21, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya — director of the National Institutes of Health — announced that the NIH will provide Kennedy with data pulled from a number of federal and commercial databases, CBS News reports.
Kennedy — who has previously promoted a scientifically debunked claim that autism is caused by vaccines — is also launching a new registry to track Americans with autism.
Bhattacharya explained that between 10 and 20 outside groups of researchers will have access to these records, and they will be provided with grant funding to carry out Kennedy’s autism studies. He added that this data will allow researchers to study “comprehensive” patient data with “broad coverage” of the U.S. population for the first time.
Bhattacharya said during a presentation that the data will include medical records from pharmacy chains, lab tests, genomics data from patients treated by the Department of Veterans Affairs and Indian Health Service, claims from private insurers, data from smartwatches and fitness trackers and more.
Stock photo of medical records. Silverstock. / Getty Images
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The NIH director noted that combining the data could lead to “real-time health monitoring” on Americans.
“What we’re proposing is a transformative real-world data initiative, which aims to provide a robust and secure computational data platform for chronic disease and autism research,” he said, per the outlet.
This news comes on the heels of statements Kennedy made at a press conference on April 16, when he claimed that “autism destroys families.”
“These are kids 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,” he added.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Rebecca Noble/Getty
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The comments sparked outrage among autism advocates, with many arguing that Kennedy’s words promoted outdated and harmful rhetoric about people with the neurodevelopmental condition.
Alison Singer, president of the Autism Science Foundation, told CNN that Kennedy’s comments “made it sound like these were people whose lives were worthless, when that couldn’t be further from the case.”
A CDC study published on April 15 reported that one in 31 children in America will be diagnosed with autism by the age of 8 — an increase from the past two decades. However, experts widely agree that the increase in autism rates over time is not actually because more people are developing the disorder — instead, doctors are merely getting better at correctly identifying autism as diagnostic tools become more sophisticated, per NBC News.
“Parents shouldn’t panic,” Dr. Alex Kolevzon, a child and adolescent psychiatrist and clinical director of the Seaver Autism Center at Mount Sinai in New York City, told the outlet. “We’re not seeing an epidemic with autism.”
