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Donald Trump asks pregnant women to avoid Tylenol over link to autism, but what medical experts said
Donald Trump said his administration links Tylenol’s active ingredient to autism, advising pregnant women to avoid it.
US President Donald Trump on Monday claimed from the White House that women should avoid acetaminophen, commonly known as Tylenol, during pregnancy, saying it may be linked to rising autism rates in the country.
The claim drew immediate criticism from medical experts, who stressed it is unproven and contradicts established science. Trump said his administration is linking Tylenol’s active ingredient to autism and is advising pregnant women to avoid the drug.
Speaking at a briefing, Trump said women “should not take acetaminophen during the entire pregnancy.” He also raised concerns about vaccines, echoing arguments long promoted by health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. and his “Make America Healthy Again” movement, which has pressed the administration to explain the rise in autism cases.
Trump said his administration is linking Tylenol’s active ingredient to autism and is advising pregnant women to avoid the drug. He also announced that his administration has begun the approval process for leucovorin calcium tablets as a potential treatment for a condition associated with autism.
What experts say
Dr. Steven Fleischman, president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, cautioned that the claims surrounding Tylenol could needlessly alarm expectant mothers and parents of children with autism.
“I don't want you going back and looking and saying to yourself, ‘I shouldn’t have done this, I shouldn't have done that.' It's nothing you did. It really is not,” he said. “Not treating the fever probably has more adverse effects that you need to worry about than taking the medication.”
American Academy of Pediatrics president Dr. Susan Kressly said, “Studies have repeatedly found no credible link between life-saving childhood vaccines and autism. Any effort to misrepresent sound, strong science poses a threat to the health of children.”
“The evidence simply does not support a link between Tylenol use in pregnancy and autism,” said Dr. Emily Carter, a child development researcher at Johns Hopkins University. “Autism is influenced by a mix of genetic and environmental factors, but no single cause has been proven.”
David Mandell, associate director of the Center for Autism Research at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, added that evidence for leucovorin, a compound sometimes promoted as a treatment for autism, is also weak. However, he said that a large-scale study has yet to be conducted and said the Coalition of Autism Scientists, of which he is a member, supports undertaking one.
Autism has remained a central issue for Kennedy, who pledged to deliver findings from a government review into its root causes by September.
With agencies inputs
