President Donald Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made an announcement declaring that they had found a link between autism and acetaminophen, commonly known as Tylenol.
This came despite the fact that little evidence of a link exists.
Trump and Kennedy, both of whom have repeated the debunked link between vaccines and autism, had said the the US government would reveal “what has caused autism epidemic” by September.
“So taking Tylenol is not good, all right, I’ll say it it’s not good for this reason,” Trump said. “They are strongly recommending that women limit Tylenol use during pregnancy unless medically necessary.”
Throughout his announcement, Trump repeated numerous conspiracy theories about autism, including easily debunked claims about mercury in vaccines and the idea that certain populations do not develop autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
Tylenol is the most commonly used pain reliever and many women use acetaminophen, Tyleonol’s scientific name, for fever or pain. Indeed, Trump struggled to pronounce the name of the drug.
Most experts say that the link between autism and Tylenol use during pregnancy is minimal at best. A major study in Sweden of more than 2 million children released last year found that “Acetaminophen use during pregnancy was not associated with children’s risk of autism, ADHD, or intellectual disability in sibling control analyses.”
Kenvue, the parent company of Tylenol, pushed back on the claims, saying in a statement to Axios “acetaminophen is the safest pain reliever option for pregnant women as needed throughout their entire pregnancy.”
“We believe independent, sound science clearly shows that taking acetaminophen does not cause autism,” the statement said. “We strongly disagree with any suggestion otherwise and are deeply concerned with the health risk this poses for expecting mothers.”
During his announcement, Trump also rehashed the idea that vaccines play a role in autism, despite the fact that repeated studies have shown no such correlation. The author of the original study, Andrew Wakefield, would eventually lose his medical license and the study would be retracted by The Lancet in 2010.
“And they pump so much stuff into those beautiful little babies, it’s a disgrace,” he said.
Furthermore, Trump falsely claimed that
Colin Killick, the executive director for the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network, criticized the efforts by the Trump administration in an interview before the announcement.
-This story is developing
