RFK Jr is already walking back his pledge to find the cause of autism by September

Just one month after setting a deadline to find the cause of autism, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is already pushing back the timetable.

In April, Kennedy announced at President Donald Trump’s Cabinet meeting that the HHS launched a “massive testing and research effort” that would lead to finding “what has caused the autism epidemic and we’ll be able to eliminate those exposures” by September.

Now, the HHS secretary predicted his department will need another six months to achieve this goal.

While researchers will be able to ascertain “some” information by the original deadline, Kennedy said it will take more time to obtain the “most solid” information, Kennedy told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins Thursday. The additional six months would push the timeline to March 2026.

“We’re going to replicate some of the studies that have already been done that look like sound studies. We’ll know a lot from those and then we’ll know a lot more afterward,” he continued.

“Those additional months are necessary to be more certain in the findings, Kennedy said. “We’re going to be definitive and the more definitive you are, the more it drives public policy,” he added.

A week after his cabinet meeting remarks, Kennedy told Fox News similarly predicted the HHS would have “preliminary answers” in six months, and a year before the HHS had “definitive answers.”

He also discussed the studies his department planned to run. “We’re gonna look at everything,” he said, listing mold, the age of parents, food, food additives, pesticides, and vaccines.

Autism rates in children have increased over time in recent years. Prevalence rose from one in 150 in 2000 to one in 36 in 2020, according to CDC data. The Autism Society of America denounced his cabinet meeting comments, calling them “ harmful, misleading, and unrealistic.”

The society issued a statement last month: “Autism is a complex developmental disability shaped by genetic, biological, and environmental factors. It is neither a chronic illness nor a contagion, that qualifies harmful language like ‘epidemic’” and to do so is both inaccurate and stigmatizing. Autistic individuals are human beings who deserve dignity, respect, and equitable civil rights.”

Kennedy has made previous divisive comments about the disorder.

The HHS secretary has controversially insisted that autism is “20 times worse than Covid-19, in terms of the economic impact, the social impact, the moral impact on our country.” He’s also maintained that “autism destroys families.”

There has been some movement on Kennedy’s proposed studies — but even those have come under scrutiny.

Last month, National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said the agency plans to gather private medical records from federal and commercial databases to use in its renewed study of autism.