Spanish
New York.- The President of the United States, Donald Trump, stated that the increase in autism rates in the country must have its origin in artificial or external factors, giving rise again to unproven conspiracy theories related to this type of disorder.
"Before it was 1 in 10,000, and now it's 1 in 31 for autism, I think it's a terrible thing. It has to be something external, it has to be artificially induced, it has to be," Trump declared at an event of the Make America Healthy Again Commission (MAHA), created during his new Administration.
According to an April report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the prevalence of autism in the U.S. has increased from 1 in 36 children to 1 in 31 at age 8.
However, it is not clear which study Trump was referring to with the statistic of "1 in 10,000", as the CDC has no records before the year 2000, when autism occurred in "1 in 150" children.
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Medical experts and the scientific community have rejected the definition of "epidemic" of autism previously used by Trump and by the Secretary of Health, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. - also present at today's event -, and attribute the great variation to the fact that more advanced detection methods and other diagnostic criteria are currently available.
"No permitiremos que nuestro sistema de salud pública sea tomado por las mismas industrias que se supone deben supervisarlo. Por eso, exigimos respuestas, la gente las exige, y por eso estamos aquí", añadió Trump.
In today's citation, the MAHA Commission presented its new report, in which it points to ultra-processed foods, environmental chemicals, digital consumption habits, and excessive medication as "key factors" that are supposedly harming the health of American minors.
The document, which consists of 69 pages, also urges greater scrutiny of childhood vaccines (which Kennedy Jr. has previously repeated could cause autism, and Trump did not deny), eight types of colorings, other food additives, and pesticides, without providing scientific evidence linking them to this disease, ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) or obesity.
The report also includes multiple comparisons with European dietary standards and criticizes the American food supply for its excessive reliance on these colorings and additives; therefore, Trump asked food companies to gradually reduce their use.
