Kennedy’s Autism Advisory Council: Skeptics and Critics Raise Concerns

The Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday announced the appointment of 21 new⁣ members to a ⁤federal committee that⁤ advises health secretary ‍Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on autism.

Many of the new members of the‍ Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee share a common trait: They have publicly expressed or belong to groups that have publicly expressed a belief in the debunked claim that vaccines ‍can cause autism.

The ⁣Wednesday proclamation comes days⁣ after STAT reported that members of ⁢the committee met in secret and that the autism community was concerned that‍ the new members were mainly ⁢allies ⁣of the Make America Healthy Again movement. The newly constituted committee is‍ notably missing portrayal from longtime mainstream autism research and advocacy organizations like Autism Speaks and the Simons Foundation. Instead, the new⁣ committee has several members from⁢ fringe groups ‍that promote treatments and causes ⁣of autism that have fallen out of favor.

“The IACC committee that I served on had an excellent balance of established autism scientists, self advocates, ⁣representatives of private autism funding agencies, parent advocacy groups, and governmental agencies,” saeid David Amaral, a neuroscientist at UC Davis and a former committee member. “The announced IACC committee does not reflect this same balance.”

Kennedy spent much of his first year as secretary branding autism – a neurodevelopmental ⁢disorder that ⁤is primarily genetic in⁤ origin ⁢- as an “epidemic” and instructing federal health agencies to‍ find the condition’s cause so that they can “end” it. The‍ past work and views of many of the new members are the latest sign ‍that Kennedy is ⁤reshaping the federal ⁣government to reflect his views⁢ on autism and vaccines.

“It’s clear that this administration is twisting the IACC into yet another ⁢mouthpiece of misinformation, putting both autism ⁤research and public health⁢ at risk,” said Zoe Gross, director of advocacy at the Autism Self Advocacy Network.

Beyond a focus on vaccine skepticism, the group’s members share othre similarities as well.

The committee, born out of⁣ the 2006 Autism Cares Act, was originally set up to help guide federal and private autism ⁢research. The organizations now represented on the committee – including SafeMinds, the Medical Academy of Pediatric‍ Special⁢ Needs, and The Autism Community in Action – mostly focus on advocacy, rather than funding autism⁢ research.

Parents⁤ of children with autism were offered more seats than scientists who study the condition. Several ⁣individuals have a background in treating PANDAS, an autoimmune disorder that shares symptoms with autism spectrum disorder but is unrelated.

Previous‍ members of the committee also noted the lack of ⁢scientists compared to ⁣previous iterations, ‍which were ⁢stacked with researchers touting‍ diverse expertise. That absence will be felt when the committee ⁤prepares its annual report on the most vital papers published on⁤ autism, they said.

New members – many ⁤with litt