As President Donald Trump rambled and ad-libbed by means of an announcement meant to warning pregnant girls in regards to the doable hyperlinks between the usage of Tylenol and autism in kids, his feedback went past the obtainable scientific proof, and even the language of his personal well being division.
He made clear he was conscious he was, at occasions, talking for himself.
“You understand, I am simply making these statements from me,” he mentioned at one level. “I am not making them from these docs, as a result of once they speak about completely different outcomes, completely different research, I speak so much about widespread sense.”
Trump’s remarks deviated from the extra measured steering supplied by his well being companies in subsequent information releases and op-eds.
“Do not take Tylenol,” he boomed a number of occasions throughout the hour-long occasion on Tuesday.
“You may be uncomfortable. It will not be as simple, perhaps. However do not take it in case you’re pregnant. Do not take Tylenol,” he mentioned.
In an announcement from Kenvue, the maker of Tylenol, the corporate mentioned it believes analysis exhibits that acetaminophen doesn’t trigger autism.
President Donald Trump accompanied by Well being and Human Providers Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Meals and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary, speaks about autism on the White Home in Washington, Sept. 22, 2025.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Pictures
“We strongly disagree with any suggestion in any other case and are deeply involved with the well being danger this poses for anticipating moms,” the assertion learn. “Acetaminophen is the most secure ache reliever possibility for pregnant girls as wanted all through their complete being pregnant. With out it, girls face harmful decisions: endure by means of circumstances like fever which might be probably dangerous to each mother and child or use riskier options.”
Main medical teams instantly pushed again on Trump’s claims, declaring Tylenol is taken into account the one secure painkiller throughout being pregnant, and declaring the doable risks of untreated ache and fever throughout being pregnant, together with the next danger of stillbirth.
Trump advised pregnant girls they need to “battle like hell to not take” the drug, used to deal with fevers in pregnant girls, acknowledging that “there could also be some extent the place you need to, and you will have to work that out with your self.”
As blunt and easy as Trump made it sound, nevertheless, the proof round Tylenol and autism is just not but absolutely shaped, a truth said by the Meals and Drug Administration in a press launch Tuesday.
“You will need to observe that whereas an affiliation between acetaminophen and neurological circumstances has been described in lots of research, a causal relationship has not been established and there are opposite research within the scientific literature,” the company mentioned within the press launch, which introduced it might push for a label change for acetaminophen, Tylenol’s primary ingredient.
In the meantime, in a joint op-ed in Politico, the heads of the FDA, the Nationwide Institutes of Well being and the Heart for Medicare and Medicaid Providers, wrote that they “acknowledge the literature continues to evolve and proof from household management research have didn’t discover a correlation.”
“Moreover, acetaminophen is the one over-the-counter medicine permitted to deal with fevers throughout being pregnant, and excessive fevers in pregnant mothers can pose a danger to their unborn youngster as properly, similar to neural tube defects,” they added.
The American School of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) warned the administration’s claims have been “irresponsible” and will scare pregnant sufferers away from taking the drug, even when it is medically prudent.
“As we speak’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. It’s extremely unsettling that our federal well being companies are prepared to make an announcement that can have an effect on the well being and well-being of tens of millions of individuals with out the backing of dependable knowledge,” mentioned Dr. Steven J. Fleischman, ACOG president, in ready remarks.
At occasions on Tuesday, Trump steered that childhood vaccinations may contribute to autism, a concept lengthy promoted by his well being secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, however which has been discredited by researchers.
“I am not a health care provider, however I am giving my opinion,” he mentioned.
“Vaccines don’t trigger autism,” learn an announcement from the American Academy of Household Physicians within the wake of Trump’s remarks. “Many years of rigorous analysis have failed to supply credible scientific proof linking vaccines to autism. Vaccines are among the many simplest instruments we now have to maintain folks, particularly infants and kids, wholesome and out of hospitals. Continued claims a couple of vaccine-autism hyperlink danger public well being by inflicting folks to delay or defer vaccination out of worry.”
