RFK Jr's big September autism announcement | What autistic students want
RFK Jr is obsessed with mitochondria, probably thanks to the wellness whisperers around him.
RFK Jr is obsessed with mitochondria, probably thanks to the wellness whisperers around him.
It’s September, so that means Robert F Kennedy the Lesser is getting ready to make his Big Announcement about Autism. According to reports, he plans to make two key claims. One is the claim that autism is caused by acetaminophen use during pregnancy, which I addressed in a previous newsletter. The other is expected to be something related to folate, also known as folic acid. The word on Rumor Street is that he’ll claim that folinic acid, a molecule related to folate, could “treat” autism and, I guess, make the autistic person go away, which is always the aim with people like him.
What seems to have flown under the radar is that this focus on folic or folinic acid (the latter also is known as calcium folinate or leucovorin) arises from Kennedy’s obsession with mitochondria as sitting at the root of all autism. He’s so fixated that apparently he can’t walk through an airport and see children he judges to be “unhealthy” without implicitly blaming their mitochondria. History and current events suggest that the claims of a handful of self-serving researchers and wellness influencers are driving this upcoming evidence-free decision from our nation’s health secretary.
Mitochondria are responsible for taking glucose from our diet and repackaging its energy into a form our bodies can use. These cell structures are complex, likely once free-living organelles that have their own DNA and produce their own proteins.
We use folinate and friends to prep the building blocks of proteins, and we use proteins to build our body’s tissues and keep things functioning. Medically, the primary use of folinate, or leucovorin, is to work against the toxic effects of some cancer drugs. These drugs deplete the mitochondria of the materials they need to build proteins. Folinate/leucovorin as a medication may mitigate some of this loss.
Like the DNA in the cell nucleus, mitochondrial DNA can undergo mutations that lead to dysfunctional proteins. These organelles package our energy for us through a complex pathway involving a lot of proteins and other molecules. There are many, many possible ways for disease to result from changes in our access to energy. Which tissues and organs are affected depends on where the mutation is and its effects. A gene called MTHFR is among the likely hundreds of thousands of genes associated with autism, and the protein this gene encodes processes folate in the mitochondria. However, having some variant of MTHFR doesn’t seem to much affect folate levels.
Stress on the body, including through infectious disease, can overtax dysfunctional mitochondria and activate related symptoms. A key 2008 case in the debunked “vaccines-cause-autism” canon involved a girl named Hannah Poling who, after receiving a series of vaccines at age 19 months, showed changes related to compromised energy access. Some of these changes were similar to behavior and communication traits autistic people can have. Poling ultimately was diagnosed with encephalopathy caused by a mitochondrial enzyme deficit, and her symptoms came on at an age that is common in this condition.
Her parents nevertheless felt that the vaccines were the trigger and took their story public, saying that vaccination caused Hannah to be autistic. In reality, although symptoms of this mitochondrial condition can show overlap with autistic traits, that doesn’t mean mitochondrial conditions cause autism. The symptoms of allergy and “head colds” show a lot of overlap, too, because their very different causes have some similar effects, yet these conditions are not the same thing. It may be the case, as I’ve noted before, that mitochondrial disruption is more common among autistic people than the general population (5% versus 0.01%). If true, that still leaves 95% of autistic people without any mitochondrial issues. Claiming now that mitochondria are at the root of autism in turn opens the way to hawking supplements targeting mitochondria and testing for MTHFR variants, which would be useless for most autistic people. Do such supplements and testing exist? Oh, you bet they do, and they’re already being sold to parents as necessary for their autistic children.
A furor erupted around the Poling family claims. Her father, Jon Poling, joined in authorship on a published report of his daughter’s case without disclosing his relationship to the “case” in the report or that he had a suit pending in vaccine court. In the case report, the child was described as showing “slow and steady improvements” with interventions that included “mitochondrial enzyme cofactor supplements.” When the family received a ruling in their favor, a flimsy mitochondria-autism-vaccine story was now implanted in the public mind – or at least some public minds.
Clearly, one of those minds was Kennedy’s. The antivaccine Children’s Health Defense Fund that he founded manifests this close attention in its many, many pages of posts mentioning these little organelles. One of those is a resurrection of the 2006 Poling paper citation with a synopsis of the case, mysteriously pushed out at the end of August 2025.
The apparent reasoning goes that leucovorin would address folate deficiency in mitochondria that might be related to MTHFR or other variants, and if a mitochondrial deficiency of this kind causes autism, then folinate (or folate) should “treat” or “cure” autism. If Kennedy does indeed come out favoring folinate or folate as a “cure” or “treatment” for autism, then move over ivermectin because there’s gonna be a new grift in town.
Among the people whose work is likely ushering Kennedy along this path are a couple of men: Dan Rossignol and Richard Frye. Rossignol was an author on the Poling paper and runs the Rossignol Medical Center, which offers testing for autism and a host of folate/folinic acid–based “treatments” and information about “mitochondrial dysfunction in autism.” Frye, along with Rossingol, has made a regular cottage industry out of publications around claims that mitochondrial dysfunction causes autism and a conviction that some kind of supplementation involving folate or folinate will “treat” it. These two, along with James B. Adams, have authored the vast majority of “studies” claiming a link.
Rossignol and Frye are now partnered at the Rossignol Medical Center. They have just published the results of a clinical trial at the center in an eyebrow-raising journal. In the paper, they note that the supplement they used in the trial, called SpectrumNeeds™, was provided by a company called NeuroNeeds™.
Guess who is among the “prominent physicians and scientists” at NeuroNeeds purported to have designed SpectrumNeeds™. Yes: Rossignol and Frye. The company offers supplements for an absolutely wild variety of conditions they claim are “related to mitochondrial dysfunction,” and of course, autism is one of them. SpectrumNeeds™ contains 33 chemicals, including folate/folinate.
The NeuroNeeds website lists “Research” associated with the SpectrumNeeds™ formulation. The study that takes pride of place as “Featured Research” was published … 14 years ago. Most of the other “research” citations they list are even older and not directly related to the supplement being sold, and many are reviews with no new research. That’s a stacking job.
The NeuroNeeds site also offers testimonials. Because of course it does. They actually had a video contest for parents buying their supplements (big ups to winners Sarah and Nathan!). Relatedly, if anyone needs a refresher on how to tell real from fake science, here it is. See how many boxes you can check from the NeuroNeeds site. Also, good news! NeuroNeeds is having a “Back to School” sale! Now you might be able to get those 33 chemicals for your child at a discount!
Finally, the company is touting that it is presenting at the The Autism Community in Action (TACA) national conference in October. I guess they also kind of have to be there because at the TACA site itself, on the “physician and science advisory board,” you’ll find both Frye and Rossignol listed, along with James Adams, lead author on many of the self-useful publications from NeuroNeeds. This kind of logrolling is typical of those who want to leverage a fear about having an autistic child to levitate cash from people’s wallets.
For those not in the long-time know, TACA’s original name was “Talk About Curing Autism.” They are closely associated with the anti-vaccine movement and still feature evidence-free supplement “treatments” on their website. They backed the now-infamous “Green Our Vaccines” rally that Jenny McCarthy held in 2008, where Kennedy the Lesser gave the keynote.
Kennedy’s interest in mitochondria and apparent readiness to blame them for autistic people also has a more proximal cause. Casey Means, Kennedy’s wellness whisperer in chief (and US Surgeon General nominee), wrote an entire book about mitochondria, is a superfan of testing for MTHFR variants, and has made comments implying a belief that vaccines cause autism (they do not). She told Joe Rogan that “I bet that one vaccine probably isn’t causing autism. But what about the 20 that they’re getting before 18 months?”
Her co-author brother Calley Means is a Kennedy aide whose company TrueMed partners with wellness companies on products that customers might be able to purchase using pretax HSA/FSA funds.
Casey Means has posted to Instagram about autism and mitochondria, in a, um, high-energy response to an ad showing a child enjoying a bowl of cereal that she thinks is Froot Loops:
“This is SCREWED UP. I try to keep it positive most the time but I just walked past this @instacart ad and I am SHOCKED. And it takes a lot to shock me these days. They are right: Froot Loops WILL ‘mess your kids up’ like this ad from @instacart promises. It is our job AS ADULTS to protect kids!!!!! NOT EXPLOIT THEM FOR PROFIT. Kids are on track to live much shorter, sicker, and more painful lives than their parents. Kids are getting formerly ‘adult onset’ chronic illnesses because of things like this artificially colored, toxin infused, pesticide covered Frankenfood that’s poisoning their poor little bodies and mitochondria and leading them to get astronomical rates of mental illness, behavioral issues (ADHD, autism), …”.
Of many things to comment on here, based on this response, I don’t think it takes that much to shock her, and it’s, well, interesting to see that concern about exploiting children for profit IN ALL CAPS.
In June, Hannah Seo wrote a piece about the Means siblings’ book. The headline: “Get ready to hear a lot more about your mitochondria.”
And here we are, getting ready. We’ll see.
Meanwhile, this is all spinning around Kennedy in a self-made hype cycle. Kennedy the Lesser seems poised to give a big boost to those on the ride-along with him, also just in time for the big October TACA. Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not. Real, evidence-based claims? Absolutely not. Anything that actually helps autistic people? Not one thing.
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If the health secretary makes any claims about folic acid/folate and autism, a few things to know:
Folate enrichment of foods began in 1996 and uptake exceeded expectations.
Average intake of folic acid meets or exceeds recommended intake during pregnancy.
Despite these two facts and the steadiness of sufficient folic acid intake, autism prevalence has increased, as these people keep pointing out.
A prospective multicenter international study published this year shows no link between folate intake during pregnancy and autism.
NB: Yes, this is our third commentary on this Kennedy. When I was writing about autism and science before 2016, I remember longing for the day when Robert F Kennedy the Lesser would no longer be flitting onto my radar over and over like an wayward, rabid bat. I now find myself longing for that every day, and I don’t like it any more than you do.
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Evergreen and timely
When current events make it timely to do so, TPGA will be sharing evergreen articles from our archives. Today is one of those timely days.
Some of the people Jenny McCarthy, Children’s Defense Fund, TACA, and others reach are what could be called “autism grievance parents.” Indeed, McCarthy was the queen of this crowd for awhile. As TPGA editor Shannon Rosa writes about the overlap between the tactics of these parents and of MAGA true believers:
Who are these autism grievance parents? They are generally like me — parents of autistic children with significant disabilities. Except instead of targeting ‘the libs,’ grievance parents and the forums they run target autistic, disability, and neurodiversity activists. Meaning, the people who fight to protect autistic kids’ rights, and improve their and their families’ lives.
Now, we have overlap of the groups themselves, with autism grievance parents cheering on the antivaccine tactics of the nation’s health secretary.
News you can use
A study in Australia shows that autistic students, probably like most students, want their strengths to be the focus when they’re at school. Researchers who conducted the study summarized the findings at The Conversation, noting that “Students told us what mattered most to them was feeling understood by teachers. They wanted their teachers to see them as a whole person, with strengths and interests, rather than focusing on their diagnosis or challenges.”
People you should know
With a content warning about descriptions of the deaths of autistic people: Jason Jacoby Lee is a nonspeaking autistic man. He writes at The Nation about the potentially deadly repercussions of “theory of mind” and other stereotypes about autistic people and calls for the New York State Senate to pass the Communication Bill of Rights, already passed by the state assembly. He writes: “We nonspeaking autistics are often treated as disposable pieces of humanity—people who, it is imagined, do not suffer like other human beings. This long-standing failure to recognize our humanity is fundamental to the mistreatment that we receive from the so-called normal world.”
Láyla Messner talks with podcaster Jennifer Barnable on Barnable’s “Finding Avalon Podcast” about her experience as a “late-discovered, high-masking autistic woman.” Messner says: “For whatever reason, being high-masking seems to be more common in autistic women. For me, because my body and brain prioritize masking, what this looks like is that the worse I’m doing, the better I seem to be doing. Because as soon as I start struggling, my mask clicks on. But that doesn’t mean that I’m capable of functioning at those high levels of distress. We hide our traits and our support needs as a survival response.”
Timothy HoYuan Chan is a nonspeaking autistic PhD candidate in sociology at the Faculty of Education and Arts, Australian Catholic University, where he focuses on “neurodiversity in autistic people with minimal, unreliable, or no speech, or those with complex communication and high support needs.” Writing at RNZ, he debunks three myths that persist around being autistic and nonspeaking and about what he does to communicate. He also offers behavioral tips for non-autistic people in interaction with autistic people, including: “Giving us the time, space and permission to process social situations helps us navigate social life.”
Tony Snell is a former NBA player and current member of a basketball team in France. He also is autistic. Snell answered questions for Hoops Hype about his experience being diagnosed as autistic in 2023. Like many who are diagnosed at a later age, he gained awareness about being autistic after his son was diagnosed. Snell says that the diagnosis “gave me a clarity of who I am.”
New at TPGA
Cherishing Compassion While Autistic and Marginalized: TC Waisman, Monique Botha, and Wenn Lawson
T.C. Waisman, Monique Botha, and Wenn Lawson—three deeply compassionate autistic experts—talk about their experiences with, and insights for, navigating this planet and our societies.
Bits and bobs
Back next week!
Thanks for reading, and here’s to having the time, space, and permission to process.
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About the Author
Dr. Emily Willingham is a 2022 MIT Knight Science Project Fellow, and the author of several books, including the upcoming If Your Adolescent Has Autism: An Essential Resource for Parents from Oxford University Press, and has served as a regular contributor to Scientific American and other national publications.