Autism panel doubles research funding, drops genetics focus
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- IACC committee members explicitly pointed to vaccines as a potential autism trigger during Thursday's meeting, even though the link has been routinely debunked, prompting Greg Robinson of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network to warn of "harms that come from misinformation around vaccines."
- The IACC adopted a new 336-page strategic plan by a vote of 26 yes, 1 no, and 13 abstentions, with the plan calling for nearly doubling federal autism funding from $390 million to $747 million.
- The strategic plan shifts away from a genetics-first approach toward areas with significantly less scientific evidence, including diet, inflammation, metabolic stress, and folate-based therapies such as leucovorin.
- Chair Sylvia Fogel announced the 336-page plan on July 17, giving the public just three days to read and submit comments, and later used artificial intelligence to analyze the thousands of comments received.
- Scott Robertson, an autistic senior policy adviser at the Labor Department, said the committee received more than 1,000 pages of additional public comments less than 24 hours before the meeting and asked to delay the vote — a request Fogel denied.
- Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reshaped the IACC in January with members aligned to his vaccine views, and has already adopted committee suggestions, including last week's announcement of a National Autism Missing and Endangered Person Alert initiative.
- Autistic self-advocate Sam Crane praised the plan's recognition of motor and communication issues and the shift away from overfunded genetics research, while Robinson criticized its failure to address helping autistic adults secure employment or live independently.
Why it matters: The 26-1 vote redirects a growing pool of autism research dollars — set to roughly double to $747 million — away from genetics and toward contested areas like folate therapies, while a federal advisory body now publicly entertains the debunked vaccine-autism link. Thirteen major disability organizations publicly asked the committee to slow down and were rebuffed, exposing a sharp rift with the autistic-led advocacy community.
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