May 22 (UPI) — Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. walked back his timeline for determining the causes of autism, a report originally scheduled to be released in September.
Kennedy’s announcement came in a sit down interview with CNN, just hours after a commission he led to investigate the causes of a childhood health epidemic released a report blaming processed foods, exposure to chemicals, environmental toxins and prescription drugs as the chief culprits.
Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic, said the government may have partial answers by the fall, but that the complete picture will not be available then. He announced the investigation into the causes of autism in April.
“We’ll have some of the information [by September],” he said in the interview. “To get the most solid information, it will probably take us another six months. I expect we will know the answers to the etiology of autism.”
Critics have said Kennedy has used hand selected studies in developing his opposition to vaccines and autism researchers. Scientists have also warned him against making broad sweeping claims about the causes of autism.
His critics have also debunked his contention that there is a direct connection between vaccines and chronic illness and autism.
Kennedy’s critics have said they have already determined a number of causal effects leading to autism, including genetic factors and prenatal exposure.
