Let's delve further now into Secretary Kennedy's remarks from today.

Stephanie Sy has more.

Omna, in today's press conference, the Health Secretary made no mention of vaccines

and instead emphasized the government's plans to study potential environmental factors

that may lead to autism spectrum disorder.

For more, we're joined by Christine Ladd Acosta with Johns Hopkins

Bloomberg School of Public Health. Christine, thank you so much for joining the News Hour.

I understand your research focus is on how genes interact with the environment to affect our health.

So I want to play something Secretary Kennedy said today when talking about the dramatic rise in autism among children.

We know it's an environmental exposure.

It has to be genes do not cause epidemics.

They can provide a vulnerability.

You need an environmental toxin.

Secretary Kennedy really emphasized in his press conference today this idea of environmental

toxins, and he referred to anything from food additive to medicine to ultrasounds as being

potential factors. Over the decades, has there been enough research into those potential

environmental factors? It's a great question. There has been

some research in more recent years on environmental factors, and by environment, I really mean

anything outside of our genes. And to date, the science really points most strongly to several

factors we've learned, or environments, including preterm birth, so individuals that are

preemies, have a higher likelihood of autism.

Pregnancies where moms experience pregnancy conditions have also been associated with risk

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