President Donald Trump signed a new executive order relating to this issue that according to the White House affected 30 million children in 2022 only.
“Autism spectrum disorder now affects 1 in 36 children in the United States — a staggering increase from rates of 1 to 4 out of 10,000 children identified with the condition during the 1980s. They relate some of these issues with the increased prescription of medications.
“Some of the possible factors we will investigate were formally taboo or insufficiently scrutinized — the childhood vaccine schedule; electromagnetic radiation; glyphosate; other pesticides; ultra-processed foods… SSRIs [selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors] and other psychiatric drugs; PFAS [per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances]; PFOA [perfluorooctanoic acid]; microplastics — nothing is going to be off-limits.”
The executive order Trump signed says the aim is to “re-direct our national focus, in the public and private sectors, toward understanding and drastically lowering chronic disease rates and ending childhood chronic disease.”