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by Emily Singer Daily Kos Staff
Health
and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Thursday came up
with a new and novel way to blame parents for their children's autism,
this time linking circumcision with the neurodevelopmental disorder.
Yes, you read that right.
"There's two studies which show children who are circumcised
early have double the rate of autism. It's highly likely because they
were given Tylenol," RFK Jr. said
during a Cabinet meeting at which Trump administration officials once
again battled it out to see who could kiss Dear Leader's ass the
hardest.
Kennedy was likely referring to a Danish study from 2015,
which found that “circumcised boys were more likely than intact boys to
develop [autism spectrum disorder] before age 10 years.”
The study—which experts say is bogus
anyway—actually drew a far different conclusion than Kennedy’s unhinged
claim. The authors hypothesized that circumcision is painful, and the
pain impacts the brain in a way that could lead to autism—not because
babies who are circumcised are given Tylenol to lessen pain.
Nevertheless, President Donald Trump ate up Kennedy’s insane
comments, nodding along as if in agreement that circumcision and Tylenol
use could lead to autism before weighing in with his own idiotic
comment.
"There's a tremendous amount of proof or evidence. I would say as a non-doctor, but I've studied this a long time," Trump said.
Who knows what Trump means by "studied," but it’s doubtful that
a man who barely reads and instead glues himself to cable news has done
any legitimate studying of a complex neurodevelopmental disorder.
Following the cringe-inducing Cabinet meeting, New York
Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler, who is Jewish, said Kennedy’s theory was
antisemitic, likely referencing the fact that male Jewish babies are
circumcised eight days after birth.
“This is an antisemitic remark. I call on all my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to clearly denounce it,” Nadler wrote in a post on X.
Ultimately, while Trump buys Kennedy’s insane theories about the cause of autism, Americans do not.
Related | Americans don't buy RFK Jr.'s medical quackery
A Kaiser Family Foundation poll released Thursday found that 65%
said it was probably or definitely false that there is a link between
autism and Tylenol usage. Just 4% of respondents said it's "definitely
true."
