It started with an unsubstantiated warning that taking Tylenol during pregnancy could raise a child’s risk of autism. But the message from President Donald Trump and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. seems to have quickly expanded to suggest that babies and young children should avoid the common painkiller.
“Don’t give it to the baby when the baby’s born,” Trump said of Tylenol at a Cabinet meeting on Thursday.
Kennedy jumped in to suggest that children who are circumcised have higher autism rates, “likely because they’re given Tylenol.”
As the administration’s stance on the medication has broadened over the last few weeks, researchers say the notion that young children may develop autism as a result of taking Tylenol is particularly far-fetched.
“There’s even less evidence that there’s a link between Tylenol in early childhood and autism than there is that Tylenol taken during pregnancy causes autism,” said David Mandell, a psychiatry professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
The bulk of scientific evidence suggests moderate Tylenol use is safe in pregnancy, and many autism researchers say data does not support a causal link to autism. When it comes to young children, the American Academy of Pediatrics says Tylenol is safe when taken correctly under the guidance of a pediatrician. The medication shouldn’t be given to children younger than 12 weeks, the group says, unless a doctor recommends it, since Tylenol can mask fevers or early signs of sepsis, which require immediate medical attention.
Trump and Kennedy’s first announcement about Tylenol and autism came on Sept. 22, when they unveiled regulatory actions to limit the medication’s use in pregnancy. Though Trump warned pregnant women to “fight like hell not to take it,” the actual policy changes were more subdued. The Food and Drug Administration issued a letter asking physicians to “consider minimizing the use of acetaminophen during pregnancy for routine low-grade fevers.” (Acetaminophen is the active ingredient in Tylenol.)
The FDA acknowledged, however, that Tylenol is the safest over-the-counter pain reliever in pregnancy and that “a causal relationship has not been established” with autism.
The agency made no mention of risks to children. Nevertheless, both Kennedy and Trump have repeated such warnings on several occasions — a significant leap from the FDA messaging.
In a post on Truth Social two weeks ago, Trump wrote that young children should not take Tylenol “for virtually any reason.”
Kennedy, meanwhile, doubled down on his statement about circumcision in a post on X on Friday, saying that “the observed autism correlation in circumcised boys is best explained by acetaminophen exposure.”
Dr. Joshua Gordon, chair of the psychiatry department at Columbia University, said the snowballing warnings about Tylenol represent a common tactic among those looking to attribute autism to vaccines or medications.
“Robert F. Kennedy and his colleagues will start with asking one question, and when the scientific community answers that question, they’ll tweak the question slightly to prolong, if you will, the debate on the topic,” Gordon said.
He pointed to the way the anti-vaccine community first raised concerns about the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine in connection to autism, then pivoted to focus on a mercury-based preservative in vaccines and on the cumulative amount of vaccines administered in childhood. (Each of these concerns has been debunked.)
“No amount of scientific evidence can ever be conclusive for this community,” Gordon said. “The debate is like a hydra. You cut off one head and they’re just going to try to emerge with another.”
The Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to a request for comment.
White House spokesperson Kush Desai said that “the President is right to express his commonsense opinion that Americans should use caution with all medications and adhere to FDA guidance, including the longstanding guidance regarding appropriate use and dosage of acetaminophen in young children.”
A spokesperson for Kenvue, the maker of Tylenol, said the medication is “one of the most widely studied pain relievers and fever reducers in infants and children, and numerous randomized, controlled clinical trials support the safety of acetaminophen in infants and children when used as directed.”
The spokesperson added that “independent, sound science clearly shows that taking acetaminophen does not cause autism.”
Mandell said claims that Tylenol increases autism rates in babies and toddlers are based on low-quality studies that don’t prove causation.
He pointed to a small study that found younger children with autism were significantly more likely to take acetaminophen for a fever compared to children without the disorder. Mandell said the study had limitations: Parents had to recall how often they gave their children acetaminophen, and children with autism are more prone to discomfort, which may lead their parents to give acetaminophen more frequently.
One scientist in particular, immunologist William Parker, has fueled the theory that autism can be attributed to acetaminophen use in babies and young children. In his post on X, Kennedy cited a paper by Parker that says there is “overwhelming evidence” that acetaminophen triggers autism. But the paper hasn’t been peer-reviewed or published in a scientific journal.
Kennedy also mentioned a Danish study from 2015 that concluded that boys who are circumcised may have a greater risk of developing autism. But the study authors said they couldn’t attribute the purported effect to Tylenol.
Dr. Sian Jones-Jobst, a pediatrician and the president of Complete Children’s Health, a pediatric network in Lincoln, Nebraska, said very few pediatricians administer Tylenol for circumcisions; instead, the common practice is injecting a numbing medication.
She added that in other situations, Tylenol is a useful tool to reduce fever or pain.
“You shouldn’t let your child suffer if they’re obviously uncomfortable,” Jones-Jobst said.
Source link