The Washington Post (3/3, Sun) reports, “A group of prominent scientists launched an independent autism advisory panel Tuesday over fears that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has politicized the key federal autism advisory board he oversees.” The panel, to be called the Independent Autism Coordinating Committee, will “focus on developing a coordinated scientific agenda for autism research and will function as a counterweight to the advisory board Kennedy reshaped in January by appointing new members.” The group is expected to “create a research agenda that reflects the progress and promise of autism science and report annually on key research advances, including basic research on genes and cells, environmental causes, early detection, therapeutics and services.” According to the Post, “medical and public health experts are increasingly setting up shadow structures as they lose confidence in federal panels reshaped under Kennedy’s leadership.”
Reuters (3/3, Respaut) reports Kennedy in January remade a “federal panel that guides national autism policy, called the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee. Its newly appointed 21 members include some with ties to groups that promote claims linking vaccines to autism, contrary to scientific evidence, as Kennedy himself has for years.” The independent panel “includes former federal committee members, National Institutes of Health directors, and autism scientists and advocates. A similar group of medical organizations and respected vaccine experts have been working to combat what they see as misinformation on inoculations coming from the…administration.”
Related Links:
— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)