U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said studies to identify the root causes of autism may be completed by March 2026.
He made the statement during an interview on The Source with Kaitlan Collins, discussing the ongoing efforts under the Making America Healthy Again (MAHA) initiative.
Kennedy explained that some of the studies will be finished by September 2025.
“These studies will mainly be replication studies of studies that have already been done,” he said.
The replication studies are meant to validate existing research related to autism.
In addition, Kennedy revealed that 15 teams of scientists will be deployed to conduct further investigations, as Breitbart News reported.
“We’re going to send those grants out to bid within three weeks,” Kennedy stated.
He said this marks a new phase of the research effort, which aims to produce definitive scientific results.
He emphasized that the goal is not just to gather data, but to shape public policy based on solid evidence.
“As I said, we’re going to begin to have a lot of information by September,” he continued.
The additional studies that are not completed by September are expected to wrap up by March.
“We’re not going to stop the studies in September. We’re going to be definitive,” Kennedy added.
Kennedy has made autism a key issue in his tenure, pointing to rising rates of the condition among American children.
The CDC recently released data showing that 1 in 31 children in the U.S. is now diagnosed with autism.
The data, drawn from 2022 surveillance of 8-year-olds across 16 sites, shows wide geographic variation.
Rates ranged from 9.7 per 1,000 in Laredo, Texas, to 53.1 per 1,000 in California.
Autism was found to be 3.4 times more common in boys (49.2 per 1,000) than girls (14.3 per 1,000).
Racial disparities were also noted, with prevalence higher among Asian, Pacific Islander, American Indian, Black, and Hispanic children than White children.
The CDC report found no significant association between autism rates and neighborhood income in 11 of the 16 sites.
However, five sites showed higher autism prevalence in lower-income neighborhoods.
In April, Kennedy called autism an “epidemic” and criticized what he called “epidemic denial” in the scientific community.
“Instead of listening to this canard of epidemic denial, all you have to do is start reading a little science,” he said.
The MAHA Commission’s recent report also addresses autism and rising childhood illness rates.
It references long-term environmental tracking data collected by the EPA since 2000.
While many pollutants have declined over the decades, chemical exposures in food, air, and water have increased.
The report says no nation fully understands the cumulative health effects of modern chemical exposure on children.
Kennedy has framed the MAHA effort as a response to decades of regulatory failure.
He says government agencies must act based on clear scientific evidence to protect the next generation.
