US Health Secretary Ends Decades of Research into Environmental Causes of Autism
4 days ago
- #environmental-health
- #autism-research
- #government-funding
- RFK Jr. promised to find the causes of autism but cut funding and dismantled research divisions investigating environmental links.
- Despite his environmentalist background, RFK Jr. has remained silent on Trump's rollbacks of pollution and chemical regulations linked to autism.
- Research by Erin McCanlies and others established links between workplace chemical exposures (solvents, plastics) and autism risk or severity.
- RFK Jr. promotes a $50M autism research initiative while overseeing cuts to existing studies, raising concerns about bias toward vaccine-related causes.
- The Trump administration weakened EPA regulations on chemicals like TCE and methylene chloride, which studies associate with autism.
- Scientists criticize RFK Jr.'s dismissal of decades of autism research and lack of transparency in his new initiative.
- McCanlies' final study found workplace chemical exposures correlated with autism severity, but her division was eliminated before publication.