These are kids who will never pay taxes. They’ll never hold a job. They’ll never play baseball. They’ll never write a poem. They’ll never go out on a date. Many of them will never use a toilet unassisted,

RFK Jr. has also suggested that autism is the result of environmental factors and vaccines. However, the Centers for Disease Control, which RFK Jr oversees, reported that family history is the greatest risk factor for autism, in addition to birth complications.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Health and Human Services secretary, has spoken several times in April about plans to find the origins of autism.