Trump is right, or at least right-ish. The root of autism "has to be something on the outside. It has to be artificially induced."

Despite media grousing, the president's remarks state simply state an obvious idea. And the very last words of the MAHA Report — Precision Toxicology — light the path forward.

Today the media is apoplectic that Donald Trump insisted in yesterday’s MAHA report news conference that autism rates have surged and the cause “has to be something on the outside. It has to be artificially induced."

The echo chamber of today’s press called the remarks “unhinged,” “bonkers” and linked to “conspiracy theories.”

It never ceases to amaze me how more than 3.2% of U.S. children — including my own nonverbal, profoundly autistic children Jonny and and Sophie — are now estimated to have the serious neurodevelopmental disorder of autism, yet the media gatekeepers will do anything to deny any true increase. Does the media ever address that 40% of these 8-year-olds have full-blown intellectual disability (ID)? Or that 24% have borderline ID? Or that autism with ID in this group has nearly tripled over just 8 years?

No, never.

Does the media ever report that even in 4-year-olds, where symptoms must typically be more severe to be picked up in screenings, the prevalence has more than doubled over just 12 years?

Uh, no.

Does the media report on California’s 50-fold explosion of autism cases severe enough to reach the level of “substantial developmental-disability,” even as eligibility requirements have become more stringent?

Nope.

Does the media report on the fact that every study in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s on childhood autism found rates in the .01-.06% range, even when those studies included higher functioning autism or other autism-like syndromes?

No, never.

Did the media report on the comments made by respected Rutgers researcher Dr. Walter Zahorodny at the RFK Jr. press conference in April insisting the rising rates were real, and not an artifact of re-labeling?

No, not at all. Conveniently ignored.

Does the media report on the staggering increase in autism cases needing special education, all while rates of intellectual disability in special ed have remained flat?

Does it report on the giant surge in autism cases qualifying for Medicaid, where the standard is “in need of an institutional level of care”? Do they tell you about the insane, inexplicable increases in the UK, Ireland (more than 5% of kids), and other western countries and thy horrendously growing waitlists for evaluations and services? Not much.

Listen, I understand the eye-rolling, the sheer fatigue, the exasperation with the vaccines-cause-autism narrative. I get that it’s important for kids and public health generally to not be victimized by this type of pseudoscience.

But, and I think I need to shout rather loudly here. JUST BECAUSE VACCINES DON’T CAUSE AUTISM DOESN’T MEAN AUTISM RATES AREN’T TRULY INCREASING. OTHER THINGS MAY IN FACT BE REAL RISK FACTORS. By all measures children are suffering higher rates of learning, behavioral, communication, social, and emotional impairments than ever before.

I have written and lectured about some potential “outside things,” let me count, maybe 5 million times. But nothing I say seems to have traction. And it’s not because the quality of my scientific sleuthing is poor, and not because my hypotheses lack biological or historical plausibility. It’s because this take is an affront to the no-increase narrative that the media has so fully embraced with quasi-religious fervor. Well, that and probably the fact my ideas are based in super complex, nuanced reproductive molecular biology stuff that put sane people to sleep.

For whatever reason — vaccine defense maneuvers, intellectual laziness, obeisance to neurodiversity ideology, or a facile belief that autism is “genetic” (which is kinda sorta true in that autism is strongly heritable) — we’ve reached a point of peak absurdity where the media pummels a president for stating the obvious: Autism rates are insane. Something(s) must be causing it. We still don’t know why. And we absolutely must find answers.

My fellow Americans, don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater here. Trump and MAHA could be offering us a golden opportunity to finally find answers about autism. We desperately need these answers.

Which leads me to the MAHA Report. Oy vey.

Unfortunately I don’t see much in the bulk of the report that hints at how to make progress on autism causation. I can tell you this. Autism is not caused by, and I quote:
• Corporate capture.
• Ultra-processed foods.
• Cumulative load of chemicals in our environment.
• Decline of physical activity.
• Over-medicalization of our kids.
• The childhood vaccine schedule.

But then at the bottom page 72, the very final words of the MAHA Report, the angels finally sing. It says: “10. Precision Toxicology: Launch a national initiative to map gene–environment interactions affecting childhood disease risk, especially for pollutants, endocrine disruptors, and pharmaceuticals.”

My heart bursts! There is hope! This is exactly what we need to truly advance autism research. Sing it with me. Pre-ci-sion tox-i-col-o-gy. I will name my band Precision Toxicology. I will write my next paper on Precision Toxicology. I will go to sleep tonight muttering “Precision Toxicology.”

I have been dreaming about Precision Toxicology since that fateful time 13 years ago when I first learned of my acute exposure in the womb to powerful endocrine-disrupting drugs, and contemplated a potential connection to my nascent eggs and my children’s strongly abnormal neurodevelopment.

How do certain pharmaceuticals affect our genes (and I mean germline genes)? How can these exposures exert heritable effects? Precision Toxicology can tell us. MAHA, if you need me, I’m at your service. It took you 72 pages, but you finally got it right.

Jill Escher is an autism research philanthropist (Escher Fund for Autism), president of the National Council on Severe Autism, and secretary of Autism Society San Francisco Bay Area. Learn more at jillescher.com.