While autism experts claim that the rise in cases stems from greater awareness and improved diagnostic testing, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. shut down that idea Wednesday and, instead, attributed the rise in cases to environmental factors.
Those who discount that environmental exposure is a factor in rising autism cases are engaging in "epidemic denial," Kennedy told reporters Wednesday.
Kennedy appeared at HHS's headquarters in Washington, D.C., to discuss the latest findings on autism included in a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) survey released Tuesday.
"This is coming from an environmental toxin, and somebody made a profit by putting that environmental toxin into our air, our water, our medicines, our food," Kennedy said. "And it's to their benefit to say ‘Oh, to normalize it, to say all this is all normal, it's always been here.’ That's not good for our country."
