• Here's what we know about the causes of autism

    Here's what we know about the causes of autism

    Sep 22, 2025 05:19 PM EST

    ... concern that measles vaccine — or other vaccines — could be linked to autism has been long debunked, stress scientists and leading advocacy groups for people with autism. What about Tylenol? The Washington Post reported Monday that the Trump administration plans to link autism to the use of the painkiller Tylenol, or ...

  • WATCH: White House briefing addresses Trump's Bondi social media post, autism announcement

    WATCH: White House briefing addresses Trump's Bondi social media post, autism announcement

    Sep 22, 2025 05:16 PM EST

    White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt denied Monday that President Donald Trump is attempting to weaponize the Justice Department by urging his attorney general to go after his perceived political foes.

  • WATCH: Without new evidence, Trump and his health officials push unproven link between acetaminophen and autism

    WATCH: Without new evidence, Trump and his health officials push unproven link between acetaminophen and autism

    Sep 22, 2025 04:13 PM EST

    WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump suggested Monday that the use of Tylenol during pregnancy may contribute to rising autism rates in the U.S., a potential link experts have studied and say is unproven. Speaking Monday from the White House, the president said women should not take acetaminophen, also known ...

  • Research doesn’t show using Tylenol during pregnancy causes autism. Here are 5 things to know

    Research doesn’t show using Tylenol during pregnancy causes autism. Here are 5 things to know

    Sep 17, 2025 08:59 PM EST

    ... Old Dominion University’s medical school and chair of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine publications committee. #5: An association between prenatal acetaminophen exposure and autism might be explained by other factors. Research has shown that genetics plays a role in autism. Hundreds of genes have been linked to autism ...

  • WATCH: Trump claims 'we maybe know' the cause of autism, teases September announcement

    WATCH: Trump claims 'we maybe know' the cause of autism, teases September announcement

    Aug 26, 2025 05:58 PM EST

    Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told President Donald Trump to expect “announcements” in September around his quest to find the cause of autism, the developmental disorder that affects the brain. Watch in the video player above. It’s unclear what scientific studies will be used to ...

  • How RFK Jr. is shaping the conversation about autism and why advocates are pushing back

    How RFK Jr. is shaping the conversation about autism and why advocates are pushing back

    May 14, 2025 10:35 PM EST

    ... those three things. And what he's trying to do is to inspire panic and fear and make people very worried about the possibility of autism in their family or just about autism in society. And that doesn't help autistic people. Ali Rogin: We are in a moment where ...

  • Fact-checking RFK Jr.'s claim that environmental toxins cause autism

    Fact-checking RFK Jr.'s claim that environmental toxins cause autism

    Apr 26, 2025 07:51 PM EST

    ... single autism spectrum disorder diagnosis that includes people with both minimal and significant support needs. What was once considered Asperger’s, for example, is now autism spectrum disorder Level 1. Other factors have boosted the diagnosis rate. Advocates’ efforts to destigmatize autism have improved awareness, Fombonne said. Beginning in the ...

  • Fact-checking Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s statements on autism

    Fact-checking Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s statements on autism

    Apr 23, 2025 08:27 PM EST

    ... Children's Hospital of Philadelphia looked at 1,368 U.S. children with autism. When parents were asked whether they would characterize their child’s autism as "severe," 10.1 percent said yes. Among this group of children with "severe" autism, a minority — 38 percent — were classified as having a ...

  • What research reveals about the rise in autism diagnoses and why vaccines aren't the cause

    What research reveals about the rise in autism diagnoses and why vaccines aren't the cause

    Apr 16, 2025 10:35 PM EST

    ... of the increase. Christine Ladd-Acosta: Some of the things my lab studies and I focused on have been genes and how genes contribute to autism and how other environments or environmental factors also contribute to autism and brain development. Ali Rogin: Environmental factors like the air we breathe, what ...

  • 'Good science takes time': Researcher skeptical autism cause will be found by September

    'Good science takes time': Researcher skeptical autism cause will be found by September

    Apr 16, 2025 10:30 PM EST

    I think to do really good science takes time. And because autism is so complex and has such a broad range of symptoms that individuals experience, it's going to take time to really figure out which genes and which specific environmental factors influence autism symptoms across the spectrum and ...