Continuing his search for the root cause of autism, Robert F. Kennedy Jr announced he wants to launch an autism registry using private health records.
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According to Newsweek, the National Institutes of Health, a body within the Department of Health and Human Services, led by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, is overseeing the launch of a registry that will track how many Americans have autism.
This is part of Kennedy’s research on the neurodevelopmental condition, which he recently described as a “disease.” He stated there is an “autism epidemic” in the US, pointing out the rising number of diagnoses is due to the environment instead of genetic factors.
Researcher and advocacy groups have disputed Kennedy’s claim.
NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya shared the data from medication records held by pharmacy chairs, private insurer claims, and smartwatches, which would be linked to the Health Department’s autism study.
The study will also use patient data collected by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Indian Health Service. However, Bhattacharya confirmed that people’s confidential medical information would be protected.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s autism registry would keep track of Americans with autism and would be integrated into the data used in the study.
A CDC study, which was published earlier this month, revealed that one in 31 children in America will be diagnosed with autism by the age of 8. This is an increase from the past two decades.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Recently Claimed Autism Is “Preventable”
In a statement earlier this month, Robert F. Kennedy Jr spoke about the “autism epidemic” within the country.
“The autism epidemic has now reached a scale unprecedented in human history because it affects the young,” he explained. “The risks and costs of this crisis are a thousand times more threatening to our country than COVID-19.”
He then said, “Autism is preventable, and it is unforgiving that we have not yet identified the underlying causes. We should have had these answers 20 years ago.”
Kennedy later claimed that “autism destroys families.” “There are kids who will never pay taxes,” he noted. “They’ll never hold a job. They’ll never play baseball.”
He also claimed, “They’ll never write a poem. They’ll never go out on a date. Many of them will never use a toilet unassisted.”
Bhattacharya also spoke out about the autism study. “The idea of the platform is that the existing data resources are often fragmented and difficult to obtain. The NIH staff will often pay multiple times for the same data resource. Even data resources that are within the federal government are difficult to obtain.”
Kennedy previously stated that he and his team would find the official cause of autism by September 2025. However, Bhattacharya pushed back on the timeline, saying the researchers have hopes to have grants for the research by September.
“It’s hard to guarantee when science will make an advance,” he pointed out.”It depends on, you know, nature has its say.”