Trump’s Tylenol claims: Science takes a backseat in the White House

Key topics:Trump falsely links Tylenol to autism, ignoring scientific consensus.Claims cherry-pick data, spreads misinformation, and makes baseless claims.Experts warn announcement risks public health and fuels anti-vax fear..Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa’s bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here..By Ivo Vegter*.This week’s press conference on Tylenol and autism by Donald Trump, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and assorted yes-men, marks a new low for the administration.On Wednesday, US president Donald Trump led a press conference announcing that Tylenol (a US brand name for what Americans call acetaminophen and that we know as Panado or paracetamol) is implicated in the rise of autism spectrum disorder diagnoses in recent decades.It was (how shall I put this politely?) instructive.It plumbed new depths of Trumpian hooey, though that low was exceeded later that same day when the Don spent two whole minutes of his address to the UN General Assembly berating the assembled worthies for failing to award the renovation contract for its Turtle Bay headquarters nearly two decades ago to “a very successful real estate developer in New York known as Donald J. Trump”. He blamed the UN’s poor decision for budget overruns and the fact that they got terrazzo floors and plastic finishings instead of the marble and mahogany that he had promised them. It was wild.The press conference on Tylenol and autism showcased a completely unprepared president, a glaring case of cherry-picking research to fit a pre-conceived conclusion, a series of outright lies, and a grossly over-simplified dictat that will do a lot of harm and very little, if any, good.Making things upIf Trump was briefed, he didn’t pay much attention. He appeared to improvise his speech, making things up as he went along.Let’s consider some of what was said, because the facts matter, and so does what the speech reveals about Trump himself and about his kooky health czar, Robert F. Kennedy Jr..Read more:.Republicans must fix their RFK Jr. mistake before it kills more Americans: Michael R Bloomberg.Trump starts off theorising – without evidence – that there has been a conspiracy of silence about the causes of autism, and that he and RFK Jr., “understood a lot more than a lot of people who studied it, we think”.Sure, Mr Property Developer and Mr Tort Lawyer. Sure you understood a lot more than the actual PhDs and medical doctors and psychiatrists and public health researchers who have been studying autism (and paracetamol) for decades.RFK Jr. announced in April that he’d tell us what causes autism by September. That’s not how science works, of course. Scientists do not make discoveries on a deadline, and actual, high-quality research takes a lot longer than five months.When September rolled around, it was patently clear that they were going to have to make something up to set Trump up as the saviour of autistic children. And boy, did they ever.In fact, they were going to announce something entirely different: a potential treatment for autism, until recently, when they pivoted to the idea of linking Tylenol to childhood autism.Trump’s false claim of expertise set the tone for what came next (though we’ll have to add it to the ever-growing list of subjects about which Trump claims to know more than anyone else.)Hyperbole“The meteoric rise in autism is among the most alarming public health developments in history,” says Trump. “There’s never been anything like this.”That’s one of his favourite lines. It is false. The meteoric rise in obesity, which in the US doubled in the last three decades to affect some 42% of the American population today, handily eclipses the rise in autism, to give just one counter-example. It isn’t hard to find more.“Just a few decades ago, one in 10,000 children had autism,” said Trump. “It used to be one in 20,000, then one in 10,000, and I would say that’s probably 18 years ago. And now it’s one in 31.”His own Centers for Disease Control (CDC) contradict him. The prevalence of autism 18 years ago was about one in 100, not one in 10,000. (The CDC reports one in 88 for 2008, and one in 110 for 2006. Eighteen years ago falls right in between those two years.)Exaggerating by two orders of magnitude for rhetorical effect does not fill one with confidence that the speaker has a clue.“But in some areas it’s much worse than that, if you can believe it. One in 31. And I gave numbers yesterday for boys; it’s one in 12. I was told that’s in California, where they have, for some reason, a more severe problem,” he said.Actually, the CDC report from which he got that factoid attributes the high incidence in California to a concerted push for broader and earlier screening and referrals. It explicitly says: “Research has not demonstrated that living in certain communities puts children at greater risk for developing [autism spectrum disorder].”But that’s halfway through the paper, and I’m guessing neither Kennedy nor Trump read that far.Continues the Don: “So since 2000, autism rates have surged by much more than 400%.”It surged by 381% since 2000, according to the CDC data, which is not “more than 400%”. And it’s 32,158% if you believe Trump’s exaggerated made-up claim about 18 years ago. Either way, he’s wrong.Pointing to the rise of autism diagnoses without saying anything about the high likelihood that much of the apparent rise in autism incidence can be attributed to broader diagnostic criteria and better screening, as awareness of the condition spread over the last few decades, is to lie by omission.Only asking questions“Instead of attacking those who ask questions, everyone should be grateful for those who are trying to get the answers to this complex situation.”The “just asking questions” defence is rarely made in good faith. There are lots of people who are “just asking questions” about vaccines, or racial representivity in crime statistics, or evolution, whose sole intention is to promote prejudice or undermine expert opinion in pursuit of a less than adroitly hidden agenda.But Trump and his pet quacks are not just “asking questions”. They just called a press conference to announce the answers.Fake examples“And by the way, I think I can say that there are certain groups of people that don’t take vaccines and don’t take any pills that have no autism. That have no autism,” declares Trump.Well now. That would be interesting. I’m not sure it would make up for the fact that child mortality in unvaccinated communities stood at 4.7% in 2024, compared to 2.8% in vaccinated communities. That’s almost two dead infants in 100 more than necessary, but who cares, right?“Does that tell you something?” Trump continues. “That’s currently. Is that a correct statement, by the way?”He turns to Kennedy for confirmation. Now here’s the thing. If you’re a whole president, standing up to give a momentous press conference announcing significant scientific conclusions and policy decisions, you’d expect him to have confirmed whether his statements are correct in advance, rather than asking the yes-men behind him to confirm what he just made up. After all, publicly contradicting Trump is a career-ending move these days.This level of unpreparedness, just making it up as he goes along, shows how deeply unserious Trump is.“Not so careful”“See, Bobby wants to be very careful with what he says, and he should, but I’m not so careful with what I say.”That, for the president of the United States, is quite the admission. The leader of the free world really ought to be careful with what he says, especially when what he says has significant consequences for public health.Replies Kennedy: “There are some studies that suggest that. Yeah, with the Amish, for example.”“The Amish, yeah,” says Trump, “virtually I heard none.”He heard. He “heard”.I’ve heard the most ridiculous things in my life. I’ve heard plausible things that didn’t stand up to scrutiny. I’ve heard dearly held but mistaken beliefs. I’ve heard outright lies.If you hold a press conference having based your announcement on what you “heard”, you should expect to get shredded by experts wielding scientific papers and actual facts.Trump doesn’t know. He doesn’t bring evidence. No, he “heard”.He could have googled this, but as we know, Trump doesn’t read.This page, for example, which confirms that Amish children do get autism, regardless of their vaccination status, would be far too long and boring to hold his attention.And this study was presumably written by one of those research people who know less than Trump and RFK Jr. and are trying to cover up the causes of autism.“Not good”Now, notice that up to this point he has said nothing about the supposed cause of autism. He handwaved some stuff about communities that “don’t take vaccines and don’t take any pills” (even though the hypothetical link between vaccines and autism has been comprehensively, repeatedly, and thoroughly debunked), but he hasn’t said what he and his friend “Bobby” decided did cause autism, and what evidence they have for their claim.No, we go straight to the announcement: “First, effective immediately, the FDA will be notifying physicians that the use of acetoauw… Well, let’s see how we say that…”Kennedy: “Acetaminophen.”Trump: “Acetaminophen. Is that okay?”Kennedy: “Yes.”Trump: “…which is basically commonly known as Tylenol during pregnancy and can be associated with a very increased risk of autism.”What is a “very increased risk of autism”? Increased by how much? From what risk to what risk?He can’t even pronounce the name of the subject of this press conference, and one of the world’s most common drugs (known as paracetamol in the rest of the world). But remember, he knows more about this stuff than those people who study it and conspire to cover up what they know.He singles out the brand Tylenol, and makes no mention of Excedrin, Panadol, PainQuil, Neopap, Ultracet or Valadol, all of which contain acetaminophen. This seems rather reckless, if he is warning people not to take what he claims to be a dangerous medication.“So taking Tylenol is not good,” he says.RFK Jr. met with the CEO of Kenvue, which makes Tylenol, a couple of weeks ago. It would not be surprising to learn that Kennedy, who is a tort lawyer by trade, smelt an opportunity for a massive class-action lawsuit against a Big Pharma company.Trump continues: “All right, I’ll say it; it’s not good. For this reason they are strongly recommending that women limit Tylenol use during pregnancy unless medically necessary,” adding that women should only take it if they cannot “tough it out”.But that is a non sequitur. Don’t take medicines “unless medically necessary” is standard advice. So is taking medicines “when medically necessary”.Segue into anti-vaxxeryTrump can never stick to the subject at hand, and easily segues into the unrelated subject of vaccines. He offers a rambling and incoherent account of what he thinks about childhood vaccines:“The other thing that I can tell you that I’ll say that they will maybe say at a little bit later date, but I think when you go for the shot, you do it over a five-time period, take it over five times or four times, but you take it in smaller doses, and you spread it out over a period of years. They pump so much stuff into those beautiful little babies. It’s a disgrace. I don’t see it. I think it has – I think it’s very bad. They’re pumping; it looks like they’re pumping into a horse. You have a little child, a little fragile child, and you get a vat of 80 different vaccines, I guess 80 different blends, and they pump it in.”That’s not how any of this works, Mr Know-It-All. He’s riffing on age-old anti-vax talking points, presumably imbibed direct from RFK Jr., that questions the childhood vaccine schedule. Clinical trials determine appropriate dosages and schedules for vaccines. They are already spread out over years.And you don’t get a “vat of 80 different vaccines”. There are 19 vaccines on the childhood immunisation schedule in the US, to be administered between birth and the age of 18 years. Of those, 11 are on the schedule for infants under 18 months. Each vaccine has a different schedule, is recommended at different ages, and with a different booster schedule, depending on the results of a wealth of clinical trials and retrospective studies.“Smaller doses” is meaningless. How much smaller?“Do it over a five-time period.” What?Rambling onHe rambles on: “I also, and we’ve already done this, we want no mercury in the vaccine.”There never was “mercury” in any vaccines. A compound of mercury, thiomersal, is also no longer used in most vaccines, except some flu vaccines. But a compound is not the same as the element it contains. Hydrogen is flammable. Fire requires oxygen. Yet water, which is a compound of hydrogen and oxygen, is not flammable..Read more:.King Charles III faces cancer battle: British monarch’s health crisis sparks global concern.Sodium is toxic. So is chlorine. Yet sodium chloride (table salt) is safe to eat in modest quantities, and both sodium and chlorine ions are necessary electrolytes in the body, without which you’d die.“We want no aluminum in the vaccine.”Aluminium is all around us in the environment, and people consume trace amounts daily. In vaccines, it is used as an “adjuvant”. Trump won’t know this, but that means it makes the vaccine more effective, so you can give smaller doses.“The MMR [mumps, measles and rubella vaccine], I think, should be taken separately.”The CDC, which is now under the direct control of RFK, and the vaccine advisory panel that he replaced with his own hand-picked quacks, are now recommending against giving the MMR vaccine to children under the age of 4. Yet it is exactly at this age that children are most likely to die of these diseases. This is unscientific idiocy.Trump agrees: “This is based on what I feel.”Gobsmacked. This is not based on science. This is not based on advice. This is not based on facts. This is based on how the Don feels? You don’t make life-changing medical decisions based on how a real-estate-salesman-turned-politician feels.Another segue, to CubaThe entire transcript of the press conference is 10,000 words, and my daily quota is considerably less than that, so I’ll limit myself to just a few more observations.Says Trump: “And I will say there are parts of the world that don’t take Tylenol. I mean, there’s a rumour, and I don’t know if it’s so or not…”Why is he standing in front of the assembled press corps and his nation spreading rumours he doesn’t know to be true?“…that Cuba, they don’t have Tylenol, because they don’t have the money for Tylenol, and they have virtually no autism. Okay. Tell me about that one.”No, you’re telling us. Just google it, you moron! Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. For people who don’t have Tylenol, they sure do have a lot to say about it in Cubanese, or whatever language those communists speak.That’s because paracetamol is one of the cheapest – and most essential – drugs on the planet.But maybe autism doesn’t infect communists who don’t speak English. Who knows?Oh, wait, I know. Google knows! Or rather, Granma, which is not an old lady, but the “Official Voice of the Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee”.It says: “Hope prevails in nine Cuban schools comprehensively addressing autism.”And here’s the Cuban News Agency, which reports: “Cuba’s easternmost province to open its first school for children with ASD.”Now look, they’re communists, so maybe it’s propaganda, but why would they brag that their children get autism too?“And there are other parts of the world where they don’t have Tylenol, where they don’t have autism,” Trump says. “That tells you a lot.”Yes, it does tell us a lot. It tells us Trump is an idiot and/or a liar, and most likely both.And he’s rude too: “I got a lot of friends, they’re fat. They said, ‘Yeah, I lost some weight.’ I said, ‘You don’t look it to me.’”Perhaps Trump thinks it’s cool to make fun of fat people when you’re overweight yourself. Or maybe he really does imagine he looks like those nauseating superhero AI pictures of him.Back to the pointBut let’s get back to the point. Is paracetamol dangerous for pregnant women and very young children, and does it cause autism spectrum or other neurodevelopmental disorders?Contrary to Trump’s claim that researchers have been silent on the subject, they’ve actually published a great deal of science on this exact topic in the last 15 years.Many papers have reported an “association” between the reported use of paracetamol during pregnancy, or in young infants, and later neurodevelopment diagnoses such as autism. The evidence has generally been of poor quality, and much of it relied heavily on self-reporting, often of medicine use years earlier. The reported effect is not large, but statistically significant.The difficulty with such research is that there are many confounding factors. The most obvious is that people don’t take paracetamol for no reason.Notably, while some of the papers call for further research, or advise caution, they all agree that first, there is no known mechanism of action for paracetamol to cause neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism, and second, that there is no evidence of causation.It seems very likely that the reasons why pregnant women took paracetamol – fever, infection, or some similar illness – is a common cause for both reported paracetamol use and later developmental disorders in their children. That would also explain why reported higher doses or longer duration of paracetamol use was correlated with higher reported incidence of neurodevelopmental disorders.That correlation does not necessarily imply causation is an elementary principle in medical research, but it appears to be one that RFK Jr. and Donald J. Trump have not imbibed on their journey to knowing more than the people who research this stuff.The very day before Trump’s announcement, the Food and Drug Administration stated: “It is important to note that while an association between acetaminophen and neurological conditions has been described in many studies, a causal relationship has not been established and there are contrary studies in the scientific literature. It is also noted that acetaminophen is the only over-the-counter drug approved for use to treat fevers during pregnancy, and high fevers in pregnant women can pose a risk to their children. Additionally, aspirin and ibuprofen have well-documented adverse impacts on the fetus.”The scienceThere’s a lot of actual science to wade through on the subject, but it is best to rely on the most recent papers, with the largest sample sizes and the best control groups.A journal article from February 2025, written by 14 medical doctors and PhDs, concludes: “According to the current scientific evidence, in utero exposure to acetaminophen is unlikely to confer a clinically important increased risk of childhood ADHD or ASD. The current level of evidence does not warrant changes to clinical guidelines on the treatment of fever or pain in pregnancy.”A study from April 2024, which covered a massive 2.5 million children in Sweden, found that “models without sibling controls identified marginally increased risks of autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) associated with acetaminophen use during pregnancy.”“However, analyses of matched full sibling pairs found no evidence of increased risk of autism (hazard ratio, 0.98), ADHD (hazard ratio, 0.98), or intellectual disability (hazard ratio, 1.01) associated with acetaminophen use.”It concludes: “Acetaminophen use during pregnancy was not associated with children’s risk of autism, ADHD, or intellectual disability in sibling control analysis. This suggests that associations observed in other models may have been attributable to familial confounding.”Paracetamol dosage and instructionsUsing paracetamol for no reason, or in higher doses, or more frequently, or for longer periods than recommended, is likely to cause hepatic toxicity, especially in young children. Every doctor knows this. And so should every mother: it says so right there in the information leaflet, under “dosage and instructions”, “side-effects” and “symptoms of overdosage”.No medicine is risk-free. No treatment is risk-free. But not treating a condition is also not risk-free.Whenever you take medicine, you or your doctor weigh the potential benefits against the potential harms. You or your doctor also weigh the risks and benefits of not taking the medication.In pregnant women, doctors know that high or prolonged fevers, infections, and other untreated illnesses can cause potential harm to the gestating fetus as well as to the mother. In many cases, “just tough it out,” as Trump suggested, is terrible advice.In recommended doses, when necessary, paracetamol is the safest medication to treat pain and fever known to science.Scaremongering without any basis in fact, which is what Trump and his quackeys did on Wednesday, is indefensible..Read more:.The Economist: The science of breathwork and stress relief.It causes psychological distress in the mothers of autistic children, who now have to wonder whether their own failure to “tough it out” caused the neurodevelopmental disorders in their children. And it will cause pregnant mothers who require treatment to forgo it, for fear of the harm they’ve now been told paracetamol can cause to their unborn children.People will die as a result of this ill-conceived, anti-scientific, ignorant political stunt. Trump’s fans will revere him for being the genius who discovered the cause of autism, but actual doctors are coming out in droves to condemn this announcement.This announcement has all the hallmarks of quackery, and demonstrates that the US public health authorities have indeed been captured by quacks and lackeys – or, as I like to call them, Trump’s quackeys.This is a new low for the Trump administration, but with well over three more years to go, I fear it won’t be the last new low..*Ivo Vegter is a freelance journalist, columnist and speaker who loves debunking myths and misconceptions, and addresses topics from the perspective of individual liberty and free markets..This article was first published by Daily Friend and is republished with permission

Trump’s Tylenol claims: Science takes a backseat in the White House

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