Leading autism expert on likely causes of America's surge as RFK Jr. vows to find 'toxin' driving cases

Like many doctors across the country, Dr. Richard Frye watched in disbelief as new health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. vowed to uncover the true causes of autism in a bombshell speech this week.

RFK Jr. promised to pinpoint the environmental triggers behind the condition - suggesting everything from pesticides and food additives to mold, medications and even ultrasounds - and pledged to deliver answers by September.

Dr. Frye, a leading autism expert from Arizona, had mixed feelings.

He told the Daily Mail that some of Kennedy's claims - particularly the need to investigate common drugs including acetaminophen and antibiotics - were 'spot on.'

But he blasted other factors floated by Kennedy - like ultrasounds - as 'misguided' and 'theoretical,' saying there's no solid evidence they're dangerous.

Instead of chasing fringe theories, Dr. Frye says the conversation should be about simple, evidence-based changes that could make a real difference - like addressing maternal obesity or age, issues that he says are easier to fix and backed by better science.

'A lot of these things that RFK Jr is talking about are not things that have really conclusive science behind them,' Dr. Frye, a pediatric neurologist at Rossignol Medical Center, told the Mail.

For worried parents, he doesn't recommend wholesale changes. Instead, small lifestyle tweaks such as drinking filtered water and eating organic food could help stack the odds in their child’s favor.

'It is unfortunate that he concentrates on the wrong things, as it will slow down the emerging science and make things controversial,' the doctor continued, adding that his rhetoric is hindering any productive conversation around prevention.

Dr. Frye knows what it's like to challenge the medical mainstream.

He is one of a small group of doctors prescribing leucovorin, a low-cost folic acid-based drug, to autistic children struggling with speech. The results have been dramatic, he says.

According to Mayo Clinic, the drug is typically used to treat or prevent anemia, or as an antidote to the harmful side effects cause by certain cancer medicine.

Dr. Frye has been criticized for using the medication in this application without enough research to support it.

Families with children taking the drug have previously told the Daily Mail that, within a few weeks, their kids went from speaking two or three words at a time to full sentences.

Still, Dr. Frye is interested in other research that may offer hope to the growing number of kids with autism.

The CDC's newest report shows one in 31 US children have autism, up from one in 36 in 2020 and one in 56 in 2016.

By comparison, early studies from the 1960s and '70s estimated autism rates to be as low as 1 in 5,000.

Many researchers have suggested the rise is primarily due to better screening methods and diagnostic changes.

The authors of the CDC report, for example, stated that the uptick 'might be due to differences in availability of services for early detection and evaluation and diagnostic practices.'

Kennedy, however, claimed diagnostic improvements only account for about 10 to 20 percent of cases, blaming the rest on environmental toxins.

One of the more fringe theories floated by RFK Jr. was the use of ultrasound scans.

The routine test, used since the 1970s to monitor pregnancies, is widely considered safe.

While a few recent studies have raised questions about whether multiple scans could slightly raise the risk of autism, results never stood up to scrutiny in larger trials, including one by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

A 2018 study published in JAMA Pediatrics, for example, of 420 children found that those with autism were exposed to higher amounts of high-frequency ultrasounds, which take more detailed images than a standard ultrasound.

However, the authors emphasized that the findings just show an association, not a direct cause.

This type of imaging is used in high-frequency ultrasound, which creates more detailed images than standard ultrasound.

Tens of thousands are performed in the US every year to look at a fetus during pregnancy, as well as to look at vital organs in non-pregnant people. For example, a patient might receive a higher-frequency scan to get a more detailed view of what's inside, or if they have more belly tissue.

A 2023 CDC study analyzing 1,500 pregnancies found 'no evidence that prenatal ultrasound use increases ASD risk.'

Dr. Frye said the link between ultrasounds and autism 'is more of a theoretical thing.'

'It's not one of the things we have strong evidence on,' he added.

Several recent studies have provided evidence supporting Kennedy's claims about food additives and pesticides, however.

An Australian study published earlier this year, for example, found boys exposed to endocrine-disrupting chemical Bisphenol A (BPA) in the womb were six times more likely to be diagnosed with autism before age 11 than those without exposure.

That team suggested BPA - which lines plastic and metal food packaging, an ever growing pollutant in the modern world - was linked to neurological and behavioral changes associated with autism.

Watchdog Environmental Working Group estimates BPA is found in 16,000 foods including canned soups and baby formula.

Another study from the University of California, Los Angeles suggested children exposed to pesticides in utero and as infants had a 10 percent increased risk of developing autism.

However, Dr. Frye suggested Kennedy's researchers focus more on maternal health and medications taken during pregnancy than environmental toxins, as measures like removing pesticides from the environment and cleaning up water take several years and millions of dollars of federal funding.

For example, he pointed to a growing body of research on the effects of acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, during pregnancy. Antibiotics have also been linked to an increased risk.

It's thought that these medications may disrupt the gut microbiome, which produces 90 percent of the body's mood-regulating hormone serotonin.

However, Dr. Frye cautioned this could be due to overuse rather than taking the medication as needed.

'What's important is that medicines are not evil, but sometimes we use them without thinking about it these days,' he said.

'It may be that a little bit of these things are okay, but the fact that we use them reflexively, without thinking about it, is something that we could kind of think about.'

Dr. Frye also pointed to maternal age and conditions like diabetes as possible risk factors.

Research from the University of California, Davis, for example, found the risk of autism in children increased by 18 percent for every five-year increase in a mother's age.

A, NIH meta-analysis also found mothers older than 35 had a 'significantly' higher risk of having an autistic child than those between 25 and 29 years old.

The latest CDC research shows that the amount of women having their first babies at or after 40 has increased by 127 percent.

Experts believe women are waiting longer to have children due to economic struggles, focusing on their careers and because they are getting married later.

Research suggests older mothers may be at a greater risk of passing on genetic mutations that increase the risk of autism, and that obesity may cause brain-damaging inflammation in a fetus.

A 2021 study in Scientific Reports found that gestational diabetes was linked to a 42 percent increased risk of autism.

Maternal obesity, a leading risk factor in gestational diabetes, has also increased by about 11 percent throughout the US in the past several years.

Dr. Frye also explained that while studies on environmental toxins are still emerging, parents can implement small changes to lower their child's risk of being exposed to potential toxins.

'You can get a good water filter. You can get a filter to clean the air in your house. You can eat organic, where less pesticides are used,' he said.

'There's easier solutions to this than things people might think are radical.'