13/04/2026
From Mindd Foundation
"Honoring Autism Awareness Month
The Autism Tsunami 🧩
In recent months, the United States Government has signaled a commitment to tackling the Autism crisis by investing in research to identify the causes. In September 2025, Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), Robert F Kennedy Jr, led a one hour press conference from the Oval Office, where he announced a multi-department commitment to tackling the autism epidemic which now affects nearly a third of the country’s children. Following the Press conference, HHS issued a press release announcing “bold new actions to confront the nation’s autism spectrum disorder (ASD) epidemic”.
The release, along with a fact sheet, reported that ASD rates have surged 400% since 2000, with 1 in 31 American children now affected. In California, where tracking methods are reportedly the best, ASD rates are highest with 1 in 12.5 boys diagnosed.
HHS unveiled a $50 million investment across 13 projects to “transform Autism research” by integrating “large-scale biological, clinical, and behavioral data with an exposomics approach that examines environmental, nutritional, medical, and social factors alongside genetics.”
The U.S. Government also highlighted several possible contributing factors, including cerebral folate deficiency and the use of acetaminophen which reportedly reduces the levels of a key antioxidant, glutathione, in vulnerable individuals.
That same month, the U.S. Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations interviewed U.S. Economist Toby Rogers who received his PhD at University of Sydney on “The Political Economy of Autism”. Rogers submitted a written statement that warned of a huge cost burden and advised further investigation into the underlying causes in order to develop a prevention strategy that averts a “fiscal cliff” of Autism costs."
