RFK Jr’s autism comments place blame and shift research responsibility to parents, critics say

Robert F Kennedy Jr at a health and human services press conference in Washington DC on 16 April. Photograph: Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters

Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, has intimated that parents are to blame for their children’s autism, and that they are responsible for researching every aspect of their children’s lives that could affect their development.

“We have to recognize we are doing this to our children, and we need to put an end to it,” Kennedy said at his first press conference as health secretary.