Trump blows open autism debate with explosive White House announcement
The President blasted entrenched taboos, warning pregnant women against Tylenol and telling parents to delay vaccines, declaring autism rates were “artificially induced.”
Autism has long been the untouchable subject in American politics. For decades, federal agencies tiptoed around it, steering research toward genetics while carefully avoiding controversial environmental or pharmaceutical questions.
That ended at the White House this morning, when President Donald Trump tore through the taboo with a blunt and sometimes incendiary performance that left even his own health chiefs scrambling to keep pace.
Flanked by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, Dr Mehmet Oz and other senior officials, Trump declared autism a “horrible, horrible crisis” and recounted its rise in startling terms.
“Just a few decades ago, one in 10,000 children had autism… now it’s one in 31 but in some areas, it’s much worse than that, if you can believe it, one in 31 and… for boys, it’s one in 12 in California,” Trump said.
The President insisted the trend was “artificially induced,” adding: “You don’t go from one in 20,000 to one in 10,000 and then you go to 12, you know there’s something artificial. They’re taking something.”