The warning on the federal government web site was stark. Some merchandise and treatments claiming to deal with or treatment autism are being marketed deceptively and could be dangerous. Amongst them: chelating brokers, hyperbaric oxygen therapies, chlorine dioxide and uncooked camel milk.
Now that advisory is gone.
The Meals and Drug Administration pulled the web page down late final yr. The federal Division of Well being and Human Providers informed ProPublica in a press release that it retired the webpage “throughout a routine clear up of dated content material on the finish of 2025,” noting the web page had not been up to date since 2019. (An archived model of the web page continues to be out there on-line.)
Some advocates for folks with autism don’t perceive that call. “It could be an older web page, however these warnings are nonetheless needed,” stated Zoe Gross, a director on the Autistic Self Advocacy Community, a nonprofit coverage group run by and for autistic folks. “Individuals are nonetheless being preyed on by these various therapies like chelation and chlorine dioxide. These can each kill folks.”
Chlorine dioxide is a chemical compound that has been used as an industrial disinfectant, a bleaching agent and an ingredient in mouthwash, although with the warning it shouldn’t be swallowed. A ProPublica story examined Sen. Ron Johnson’s endorsement of a brand new guide by Dr. Pierre Kory, which describes the chemical as a “outstanding molecule” that, when diluted and ingested, “works to deal with all the things from most cancers and malaria to autism and COVID.”
Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican who has amplified anti-scientific claims round COVID-19, provided a blurb for the duvet of the guide, “The Battle on Chlorine Dioxide.” He referred to as it “a gripping story of corruption and braveness that can open eyes and immediate critical questions.”
The shortage of clear warning from the federal government on questionable autism therapies is according to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s rejection of typical science on autism and vaccine security. Final spring, Kennedy introduced into the company a vaccine critic who’d promoted treating autistic kids with the puberty-blocking drug Lupron. And in January, Kennedy recast an advisory panel on autism, appointing individuals who have championed the usage of pressurized chambers to ship pure oxygen to kids, in addition to some who assist infusions to attract out heavy metals, a course of often known as chelation.
Kennedy has embraced numerous unconventional measures in his combat towards what he views as a authorities system corrupted by particular pursuits. In October 2024, shortly earlier than Donald Trump received the presidency once more, Kennedy vowed on social media that the FDA’s “conflict on public well being” was about to finish.
“This contains its aggressive suppression of psychedelics, peptides, stem cells, uncooked milk, hyperbaric therapies, chelating compounds, ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, nutritional vitamins, clear meals, sunshine, train, nutraceuticals and anything that advances human well being and might’t be patented by Pharma,” he wrote.
At his affirmation listening to, Kennedy praised Trump for his extensive seek for a COVID-19 treatment in his first time period, which Kennedy stated included vaccines, numerous medication and “even chlorine dioxide.”
The FDA, relationship again to a minimum of 2010, has urged shoppers to not buy or drink chlorine dioxide, incessantly marketed as a Miracle Mineral Answer, as a result of “the answer, when blended, develops right into a harmful bleach which has prompted critical and probably life-threatening uncomfortable side effects.”
The BMJ (previously the British Medical Journal) has beforehand reported on the removing of the FDA warnings web page. The shortage of a warning has additionally acquired consideration within the Telegram channel Chlorine Dioxide Testimonies.
“Don’t neglect the FDA quietly eliminated warnings about Chlorine Dioxide on their web site earlier this yr,” learn a forwarded put up in late December, to which over 100 folks reacted with an applauding emoji.
The contributor added a want for the longer term: that Kennedy and the FDA commissioner undertake official research exploring chlorine dioxide’s results in battling most cancers. There at present are not any warnings about chlorine dioxide on a shopper web page on the FDA web site. And HHS didn’t reply ProPublica’s questions on whether or not the company endorses chlorine dioxide as a remedy for autism.
In his guide, Kory additionally expresses optimism about what Kennedy will do. “What I really need is for the FDA to carry its restrictions on learning chlorine dioxide as a therapeutic,” he wrote. “That’s one thing I’m hoping would possibly lastly be attainable below this new administration, particularly with RFK Jr. as head of Well being and Human Providers.”
Many autism researchers and advocates have been cautious of Kennedy attributable to his long-held stance that vaccines trigger autism. Peer-reviewed research carried out worldwide, revealed over many years in main scientific journals, have rejected such a hyperlink.
Below Kennedy, nonetheless, the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention overhauled its web site on vaccines and autism to claim that research supporting a hyperlink have been ignored by well being authorities.
The CDC web page retained the headline “Vaccines don’t trigger Autism” however added an asterisk noting that the phrase remained “attributable to an settlement with the chair of the U.S. Senate Well being, Schooling, Labor, and Pensions Committee.” As a way to win affirmation to his put up, Kennedy had promised Sen. Invoice Cassidy, a doctor, that he wouldn’t take away the assertion.
Kennedy’s alternative of 21 members who have been a part of an interagency coordinating committee on autism gives one other glimpse into the place he needs to take federal coverage.
The committee gives recommendation and proposals on insurance policies, analysis and providers. It now contains individuals who have promoted unproven treatments for autism, together with suramin, a drug developed to deal with sleeping illness in Africa attributable to bites from a tsetse fly; hyperbaric oxygen remedy, usually used for decompression illness and tissue harm; controversial language strategies; and chelation remedy.
A 5-year-old autistic boy died in Pennsylvania in 2005 after a chelation session. One other 5-year-old boy died in Michigan final yr in a hyperbaric chamber hearth; his dad and mom wished him handled for an consideration dysfunction.
The Autistic Self Advocacy Community revealed a press release on its web site saying that the newly reconfigured HHS autism panel is now “overwhelmingly made up of anti-vaccine advocates and peddlers of harmful quack autism ‘therapies.’”
HHS informed ProPublica in an emailed assertion that such claims are “false” and that the brand new members are skilled in analysis and medical care. “They’re dedicated to advancing innovation in autism analysis, analysis, remedy, and prevention to align federal coverage with present gold-standard science,” HHS stated.
Dr. Paul Offit, a pediatrician and director of the Vaccine Schooling Middle at Youngsters’s Hospital of Philadelphia, informed ProPublica that Kennedy’s removing of committee members with strong experience in favor of people that assist various drugs exhibits that the secretary is “completely prepared to embrace bogus therapies.”
One other main professional, Yale College professor emeritus Dr. Fred Volkmar, who edited the “Handbook of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Problems,” a definitive information, stated early analysis and confirmed therapies have led to dramatic enhancements for folks with autism. “Nowadays, in all probability 70% to 75% of youngsters on the autism spectrum will develop as much as be totally impartial or semi-independent adults.”
Sadly, nonetheless, he stated, some dad and mom fall prey to guarantees of simple and quick cures, when there are none. One of many risks, he stated, is that kids are drawn away from therapies which might be proven to be useful.
“It’s a disgrace that the federal authorities will not be being extra useful to oldsters in understanding what does and doesn’t work,” Volkmar stated.
