The US Department of Health and Human Services has launched a “massive testing and research effort” involving hundreds of scientists worldwide that will determine “what has caused the autism epidemic” by September,

US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr has pledged "a massive testing and research effort" to determine the cause of autism in five months. Experts cautioned that finding the causes of autism spectrum disorder – a complex syndrome that has been studied for decades – will not be straightforward, and called the effort misguided and unrealistic.