FDA head says government hasn't started writing autism report

Rachel Cohrs Zhang, Bloomberg News on Sep 8, 2025

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WASHINGTON — U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary said the federal government has not yet started writing a report on the possible causes of autism but reaffirmed a longstanding promise that it will be released “within a month.”

Makary said last week’s Wall Street Journal story about the autism report was “premature.” The Journal said the report will include a claim that pregnant women’s use of the over-the-counter painkiller Tylenol could be a contributing factor to autism.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has touted that a report examining the root causes of autism would be coming in September. Kennedy in the past has suggested that the effects of vaccination are a contributing cause to autism rates.

The National Institutes of Health made $50 million in funding available to study autism in June. NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya this spring said it could take a year to get updates from that research. And Kennedy said in a Sunday appearance on Fox News that the upcoming announcements would be preliminary.

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(With assistance from Katie Greifeld and Romaine Bostick.)

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