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  • NEWS FEATURE

Autism is on the rise: what’s really behind the increase?

RFK Jr has vowed to find out what’s responsible, but scientists say he is ignoring answers from decades of research.
By
  1. Helen Pearson
Illustration showing a spotlight passing over a pattern of many human silhouettes and where the light touches them they are shown in various bright colours.

Illustration: Hayley Wall

On 16 April, Robert F. Kennedy Jr held a press conference about rising diagnoses of autism. The US Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary pointed to new data showing that autism prevalence in the United States had risen steeply from one in 150 eight-year-olds in 2000 to one in 31 in 2022. He called it an “epidemic” caused by “an environmental toxin” — and said he would soon be announcing a study to find the responsible agent.

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Nature 644, 860-863 (2025)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-02636-1

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