Autism advocates are escalating calls for congressional action against Robert F. Kennedy Jr., alleging that his leadership of the Department of Health and Human Services has unleashed a torrent of medical misinformation that undermines public trust and harms vulnerable communities.
A newly published report by the Autistic Self Advocacy Network and the American Association of People with Disabilities documents what it characterizes as a systematic assault on evidence-based autism science over the past year. The accounting comes as the administration reshuffles its autism committee and continues to promote unproven treatments, even as the scientific record contradicts key claims.
Among the most contentious moves: HHS officials promoted leucovorin, a B vitamin, as an autism treatment, despite the FDA approving it only for a rare folate deficiency. More provocatively, officials announced in September that acetaminophen use during pregnancy causes autism, triggering measurable real-world harm. Orders for Tylenol in emergency rooms declined after that announcement, even though growing research finds no causal link between the pain reliever and autism.
"When you look at it, one thing after another, you can really realize how overwhelming it has been," said Zoe Gross, director of advocacy at ASAN, describing a pattern of budget cuts totaling roughly $31 million in autism research, purges of federal committee members, and removal of FDA warnings about dangerous, unproven treatments.
The department also eliminated the office that manages freedom of information requests, reducing transparency at health agencies. Kennedy himself has claimed the administration will identify autism causes by September and declared that autism is "destroying families," framing the condition in stigmatizing terms that disability advocates reject.
Shannon Rosa, senior editor at Thinking Person's Guide to Autism, described the deluge as "like drowning in misinformation." She emphasized that documenting these moves with a precise timeline is vital for activist organizing and pushing back against policymakers at local, state, and federal levels before damage calcifies into settled policy.
A more recent twist has added fuel to the controversy: Kennedy suggested during budget hearings that home health aides are defrauding the government by being paid for care that relatives once provided for free. The comment ignited outrage across the disability community, where paid family caregivers often cannot hold other jobs because of caregiving demands.
Some observers have noticed a tactical shift this spring. As Autism Acceptance Month approached and midterm elections loom, Kennedy and his appointees have grown quieter about contested moves. The first meeting of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee was postponed in March and rescheduled for Tuesday with minimal announcement. Gross acknowledged the lower profile but cautioned against misinterpreting it as a change of heart.
"RFK Jr and his appointees are no less dedicated to anti-vaccine policies," Gross said, noting that the administration has not walked back or corrected its September statements about acetaminophen and autism. The FDA still plans to update safety labeling for acetaminophen to warn about "prenatal exposures and child development," according to an HHS spokesperson.
Advocacy groups are now pushing Congress to hold Kennedy and the broader HHS leadership accountable through oversight hearings and, if warranted, impeachment proceedings. "If RFK Jr is found in those hearings to have been derelict in his duty as secretary, then Congress should impeach him," Gross said.
Author James Rodriguez: "Kennedy's department is operating like a misinformation factory with a government seal, and the fact that it took outside advocates to document the damage shows how much oxygen the agency has stolen from anyone trying to tell the truth about autism."
Comments