Anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has faced intense scrutiny for a number of reasons — which also include his lengthy past with drug addiction.

Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. warned that children in the U.S. are being diagnosed with autism at an “alarming rate,” promising on Wednesday to conduct exhaustive studies to identify any environmental factors that may cause the developmental disorder.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is in full damage-control mode after causing outrage with his controversial comments about autism during his first official press briefing as health secretary. Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic,