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Donald Trump could have warned pregnant girls shouldn’t use Tylenol, claiming it has been linked with autism — however the epidemiologist his administration cited insists it’s nonetheless secure to take.
The president, together with Well being and Human Providers Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., claimed Monday that using acetaminophen (also called Tylenol) when pregnant has been linked to kids growing autism spectrum dysfunction. Trump warned that the painkiller and fever reducer shouldn’t be taken “throughout the complete being pregnant.”
“All pregnant girls ought to speak to their medical doctors for extra details about limiting using this remedy whereas pregnant,” he stated. “So ideally, you do not take it in any respect.”
The Trump administration cited a paper revealed final month evaluating current analysis on the correlation between autism and Tylenol use in pregnant girls. Ann Bauer, an epidemiologist and co-author on the paper, informed Politico that the analysis reveals pregnant girls can nonetheless use the widespread painkiller, regardless of the president’s claims.
“What we advocate is even handed use — the bottom efficient dose [for] the shortest period of time below medical steerage and supervision, tailor-made to the person,” Bauer stated.
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White Home Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt maintained that there’s “mounting proof discovering a connection between acetaminophen use throughout being pregnant and autism, and that is why the Administration is courageously issuing this new well being steerage.”
“President Trump pledged to handle America’s skyrocketing charges of autism, and his crew is deploying Gold Customary Science to ship on this pledge,” Leavitt stated in a press release.
When Bauer discovered that the Trump administration would possibly cite her research earlier this month, she grew to become involved that her work can be linked to discredited theories, KFF Well being Information experiences.
“I used to be sick to my abdomen,” she informed the outlet.
Many scientific consultants keep that the hyperlink between autism and acetaminophen use in being pregnant is minimal. For instance, a serious research in Sweden of greater than 2 million kids between 1995 and 2019 discovered that “acetaminophen use throughout being pregnant was not related to kids’s danger of autism, ADHD, or mental incapacity in sibling management analyses.”
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Whereas Trump additionally claimed there’s “no draw back” to avoiding Tylenol whereas pregnant, Dr. Helen Tager-Flusberg, professor emerita at Boston College and head of the Coalition of Autism Scientists, beforehand informed The Impartial it’s a “extremely irresponsible” suggestion.
“I’d say that is the priority of the complete autism group,” she stated. “Scientists, people with autism, mother and father who’ve an autistic baby, we’re all involved that this is a serious announcement with important implications that’s merely not tied to the fact of the scientific proof itself.”
The American Faculty of Obstetricians and Gynecologists additionally stated the Trump administration’s announcement wasn’t rooted in strong proof.
“Right this moment’s announcement by HHS is just not backed by the complete physique of scientific proof and dangerously simplifies the numerous and sophisticated causes of neurologic challenges in kids,” stated Steven Fleischman, the group’s president.
A spokesperson for Kenvue, the corporate that makes Tylenol, equally rejected the Trump administration’s claims.
“We imagine unbiased, sound science clearly reveals that taking acetaminophen doesn’t trigger autism,” the spokesperson stated. “We strongly disagree with any suggestion in any other case and are deeply involved with the well being danger this poses for anticipating moms.”
