US Health Secretary Ends Decades of Research into Environmental Causes of Autism

8 klipt 5 8/20/2025, 5:00:40 PM propublica.org ↗

Comments (5)

reify · 23m ago
I for one am very pleased that this search for a cause has ended.

There is no link, the environment does not cause modern day Autism.

The DSM4 has a lot to answer for the creep of autism overdiagnosis.

The reason why there are so many, far too many, people, diagnosed with autism, is because over the last 10-20 years, the spectrum has been expanded so much that an introvert could get a diagnosis of autism.

Look at me! The classic introvert, meets the requirements of autistic diagnosis.

My myers Briggs = INFJ. yes, that 1-2% of the population

well well. And I am a retired psychotherapist too.

How on earth did I manage 25 years practicing as a psychotherapist, when my life was overwhelemed by autistic traits. At the time, I thought I was just a simple introvert.

So I could in fact get a diagnosis tomorrow and claim I am autistic.

How wonderful is that?

I could become a member of the ever increasing population of autistic people.

I remember back in the 80-90's every autistic person I ever met, and there weren't that many, were non verbal.

Now we have likes of Lone skum masquerading as an autistic person who in my professional opinion is simple a narcissist.

Narcissism and autism on the same diagnoses, what ever next.

I count ADHD as part of this ever growing trend of overdiagnosis.

add-sub-mul-div · 39s ago
I don't understand this rant. You acknowledge the spectrum has been expanded but then contradict yourself or display a serious lack of understanding by saying that a diagnosis implies being "overwhelemed by autistic traits". A level 1 diagnosis is defined as not being overwhelmed the way a level 3 would be.

I'm diagnosed as level 1 and I assure you it's something different than introversion. Not that it's necessarily a stronger thing. I didn't even get diagnosed until recently because my life has always been so functional that there was no reason for me to think I needed to be tested. The way I hear serious introverts talk sometimes, I'm glad that I have my traits and not theirs.

I have never been able to understand what it is about autism as a topic that drives people mad.

bediger4000 · 1h ago
Is that the true headline? I visited the URL and found:

RFK Jr. Vowed to Find the Environmental Causes of Autism. Then He Shut Down Research Trying to Do Just That.

klipt · 1h ago
You're welcome to try posting with the full headline but when I tried that HN complained it was too long so I had to shorten it
Jtsummers · 1h ago
Just a tip: When you run into that, post a comment explaining it otherwise people will complain about editorialized titles. I've found it's better to cut off that thread of discussion before it can even start.