Will RFK Jr. Get to the Bottom of the Vaccine-Autism Question?

Illustration by The Epoch Times, Shutterstock

Today’s children face a growing chemical assault from compounds found in cleaning products, plastic, food, medicine, pollution, and more. This assault can undermine well-being in uncounted ways.

Dietitian and autism expert Greer McGuinness told The Epoch Times these toxic chemicals can play a role in autism that seems to appear out of nowhere—potentially explaining why autism rates are rising alongside our increased exposure to chemicals.

“We have this new version of what we’re calling autism that might not be autism. We call it autism, but could it be mold or lead or another environmental toxin?” McGuinness asked.

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Toxin exposures can lead to too many free radicals in the body. People with autism have been found to have higher levels of metals in the body and lower levels of glutathione, an antioxidant that protects the mitochondria by neutralizing free radicals. This illustrates how something besides genetic vulnerability can trigger autism.

Parents have long wondered whether vaccines—which contain small amounts of aluminum, chemical preservatives, and stabilizers—have chemicals in amounts that could cause autism.

Driving parental concern is the growing list of vaccines children are expected to receive and anecdotal evidence that children’s development has suddenly and markedly regressed after being vaccinated, only to be later diagnosed as autism.

Today, one in 36 children born will be diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD)—up from one in 2,000 in 1980.

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I watched my nephew—full of light, joy, and brilliance—radically change as a toddler. He suddenly began to behave obsessively, lost his vocabulary, and his bright eyes averted everyone’s gaze. It happened shortly after he was vaccinated, and he was later diagnosed with ASD.

When I became pregnant not long after this, I found myself asking doctor’s opinions on whether vaccines could cause autism. They assured me there was nothing to worry about. However, I couldn’t help being concerned as a growing number of friends described their children’s sudden post-vaccine personality and developmental changes.

I stand among the parents who genuinely want to know not only if there’s a vaccine-autism link but also what all the risks are for costly, chronic, and new diseases bombarding children at increasing rates.

Could we be closer to getting answers now that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS)? President Trump said before he nominated Kennedy that he was free to investigate the link between vaccines and autism, a topic Kennedy has been interested in for years.

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Kennedy said he plans to investigate whether childhood vaccinations are among the multiple “possible factors” of the nation’s chronic disease epidemic, Epoch Times writer Jeff Louderback reported in an article about Kennedy’s first address to HHS staff.

In the Epoch Times essential guide to autism spectrum disorder, writer Mercura Wang noted that while official organizations have denied any vaccine-autism link, some scientists are calling for more studies on the topic.

“Although individual vaccines are tested for safety and efficacy, no study has ever examined the safety of the entire vaccination schedule recommended for U.S. children by the CDC,” a researcher in one study wrote.

Wang noted that besides genetics, autism can be caused by a number of environmental factors, such as prenatal infections and toxins, environmental pollution, various medications, paternal cannabis use, and preterm birth, among others.

Parents deserve more definitive research on how chemicals and vaccines may be cumulatively affecting our children.