Continuing our discussion of Dr. Ken Springer's superlative presentation of "5 Myths About Autism," he notes that Sec. Kennedy has stated that ASD is a "preventable" condition, and that

Genes do not cause epidemics. It can provide a vulnerability. You need an environmental toxin, and Irva Hertz-Picciotto pointed out that because of this mythology, that the amount of money and resources put into studying genetic causes, which is a dead end, has been historically 10 to 20 times the amount spent by NIH and other agencies to study environmental factors, to study exposures, to study external factors, and that’s where we’re going to find the answers. ¹

This, of course, is in direct contradiction to the well established genetic evidence. For example, a large "population-based multinational cohort study including more than 2 million individuals, 22 156 of whom were diagnosed with ASD," was conducted in 2019, and reached the following conclusion:

Based on population data from 5 countries, in what is to our knowledge the largest study to date, the heritability of ASD was estimated to be approximately 80%, indicating that the variation in ASD occurrence in the population is mostly owing to inherited genetic influences, with no support for contribution from maternal effects. The results suggest possible modest differences in the sources of ASD risk between countries. The contributions of gene-environment interactions or correlations between genes and environment to ASD risk are important unanswered questions. ²

Further, The Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man database at Johns Hopkins University Medical School citation for Autism - AUTS1 Locus on Chromosome 7q22, the most general genetic marker, notes discussions of familial inheritance as early as 1977, but should be noted to be believed to have 942 suspected genetic affiliations. A very recent example includes Yale University Medical School's announcement of the discovery of,

rare mutations that remove or delete sections of DNA in neurexin-1, called deletion mutations, [that] are highly associated with schizophrenia and autism. But these mutations are not straightforward. Almost all affected patients have deletions in different parts of the gene, and because neurexin-1 can code for hundreds of different proteins, deletions in different regions of the gene will affect different proteins.This work could extend far beyond neurexin-1, creating new considerations for precision-medicine approaches to treat other genetic mutations associated with autism and schizophrenia, and potentially other brain-related conditions, such as epilepsy, Timothy Syndrome, and frontotemporal dementia.³

Obviously, the "crown" of Sec. Kennedy's agenda is to "settle" the already settled science of the causes of ASD, and to fulfill his promise that this will be accomplished by September. This is remarkable in that neuroscientists, researchers, and physicians worldwide have dedicated themselves to this common mission for literally decades, and have substantial conclusions that apparently are not sufficient for the Secretary and his followers. In Part 1 of this discussion, we have already discussed the stigmatization, shame, and feelings of responsibility brought about in families with ASD children, and it seems that frank discussions of genetics are not as "comfortable" as focusing on externalized sources such as environmental pollutants, red dye #3, and vaccine adjuvants such as aluminum. As Dr. Springer - and pretty much anyone with any common sense already knowns - more than twenty-five full studies and meta-analyses already exist that definitively show there is no link between the Measles, Mumps, Rubella [MMR] childhood vaccination, which, literally, has been administered around the world safely and effectively since 1963. Sec. Kennedy has foolishly and incorrectly perpetuated the myth that childhood vaccinations have not been submitted to the scrutiny of clinical trials that have included placebo testing, and has vowed to do this in a truly surreal exercise that has called his understanding of medical ethics into question, and whether an Institutional Review Board [IRB] - a legal requirement for the protection of any human subject involved in a research trial - would ever approve and/or even allow withholding of a known beneficial vaccine from infants and children to "prove" a point. Some have offered the ridiculous analogies likened to an automobile infant safety seat clinical trial, where the "control" group would be to randomly deny a safety seat to half the infants, or a trial of high dose amoxicillin for S pneumoniae, while withholding it from the "control" group of infants.

Further, Sec. Kennedy has commissioned a highly unlikely "actor" to lead the investigation, David Geier, a colleague affiliant from his days at the Children's Health Defense, who with his recently decesaed father - a disbarred physician well-known for spreading anti-vaccine disinformation and discredited treatments for ASD with his son - who only possesses a BA in Biology, and was fined $10,000 in 2012 by the Maryland State Board of Physicians with falsely practicing as a licensed physician. ⁴They both had journal articles retracted, been referred to by judges where they proported to offer "expert testimony" regarding harm caused by vaccines as ""a professional witness in areas for which he has no training, expertise and experience," "intellectually dishonest," "not reliable" and "wholly unqualified." ⁵ Acting in concert, supposedly on behalf of demanding parents, both Geiers made claims of the CDC engaging in "coverups," which quickly followed reports of scientists dismissing their "research" as "having such serious flaws that their studies were uninterpretable; their mathematical formulas provided no information, and the authors used basic scientific terms like 'attributable risk' incorrectly." ⁶ One of the scientists who helped write the assessment of their work noted, "The problem with the Geiers' research is that they start with the answers and work backwards. They are doing voodoo science." ⁷

It thus seems inevitable that the outcome of a study conducted by David Geier is bound to backfire for Kennedy, as the scientific/medical community is highly unlikely to ignore Geier's considerable baggage. As Steven Novella, MD, an academic clinical neurologist at the Yale University School of Medicine has written,

The scientific and medical communities will not take the results of Geier’s analysis seriously, as it is almost certain to be riddled with errors and poor methodology. The antivax community does not base their beliefs on scientific facts, so any such study will either reinforce their existing beliefs or will be summarily dismissed. It seems pretty clear that the study itself and whatever outcome it produces will simply become more anti-vaccine fodder. It will be used to undermine public confidence in vaccines and be used to worsen the health and safety of Americans. With RFK Jr and David Geier in charge there is no other plausible outcome.⁸

Very wisely, Dr. Ken Springer closes his essay by stating that, "We're not going to know much more about ASD in September than we do now," and how could we argue the point? We already know that ASD is a predominantly a genetically mediated condition, and we may discover epigenetic factors that "trigger" this condition in vulnerable individuals. This, alone, would be a remarkable contribution. Somehow, we may only hope for the best, but likewise, in consideration of the protagonists at work, we can never expect the best. And unfortunately, children may be the ones to suffer.

¹ https://singjupost.com/rfk-jr-holds-press-conference-on-new-autism-findings-from-the-cdc/?singlepage=1

² Bai, D., et al. Association of genetic and environmental factors with autism in a 5-country cohort. JAMA Psychiatry. 2019;76(10):1035-1043. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2019.1411

³ Fernando, MB, et al. Phenotypic complexities of rare heterozygous neurexin-1 deletions. Nature (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08864-9.

⁴ https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/25/science/on-autisms-cause-its-parents-vs-research.html

⁵ https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/25/science/on-autisms-cause-its-parents-vs-research.html

⁶ Ibid.

⁷ Ibid.

⁸ https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/david-geier-hired-to-study-vaccines-and-autism/