Restore Real Research. Reject Kennedy’s Anti-Science Agenda

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the current Secretary of Health and Human Services, has claimed that conditions like autism, Tourette’s, ADHD, and ADD “did not exist” when he was a child. This statement is not only historically false—it is a dangerous foundation for public health policy. These diagnoses have been documented for over a century: • Tourette’s was first described in 1885. • Autism was clinically defined in the 1940s. • Symptoms of ADHD were recorded as early as the 18th century, with formal diagnosis evolving throughout the 20th. To claim they “did not exist” because they weren’t widely diagnosed in privileged circles is to erase generations of people—many of whom, like his own cousin Rosemary Kennedy, were subjected to abuse and lobotomy instead of care. More troubling: RFK Jr., who has no formal training in medicine or public health, has appointed a discredited figure to lead a nationwide study on autism—Dr. Brian Hooker, a known anti-vaccine activist with a history of cherry-picking data and promoting conspiracies that have been debunked by the broader scientific and medical community. Kennedy has stated that he expects “answers by September.” That is not a research timeline. That is a political deadline—proof that this administration is backing into a predetermined narrative, not seeking objective truth. Meanwhile, funding for legitimate longitudinal studies into autism and neurodevelopmental conditions has been quietly slashed, mid-process, cutting off real science in favor of fringe theories and ideological manipulation. This is not health policy. It’s state-sponsored pseudoscience, and it puts millions of neurodivergent Americans—past, present, and future—at risk of being misunderstood, mislabeled, and mistreated. We urge Congress to: • Publicly reject Kennedy’s claims • Restore funding to credible scientific research • Investigate the ethical and procedural violations in the current “study” • And demand accountability for health decisions based on ideology, not evidence.