Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s push to collect troves of personal medical data to find the cause of autism has researchers and patient advocates questioning whether his plan to cast a wide net makes it easier to pick and choose information that supports certain theories — including the debunked idea that vaccines cause autism.

Kennedy Jr. insists an environmental toxin is responsible for increased autism prevalence in the U.S. "This is a preventable disease," he said April 16, dismissing an HHS agency report’s explanation for the increase.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attributed increasing autism rates to environmental toxins. Autism researchers told PolitiFact that lacks evidence and omits other important factors such as growing awareness that help explain the increase.