During his address at the controversial Charlie Kirk’s memorial service, President Donald Trump teased an event that was set to occur on Sept. 10. He veered off from his statement and went into a tangent, saying, “I think you’re going to find it to be amazing. I think we found an answer to autism.”
The Washington Post reported that Robert F. Kennedy’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) plans to link the answer to autism to a common pharmaceutical drug, Tylenol.
According to a recent Harvard study, autism can be caused by ingesting too much Tylenol during pregnancy. Harvard now urges early mothers to only use Tylenol to treat a high fever, and to “tough it out if it’s not a fever.”
This has created a rise in public unrest and decreased trust in higher powers. Tylenol is the only painkiller safe to take during pregnancy. Ibuprofen and aspirin have been proven to raise birth complications if taken.
These unfounded claims made by Kennedy and Trump have garnered attention from World Health Officials (WHOS) who have started to counter their claims in mass.
Scott White, the chair of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Women’s Health Committee, stated, “[Tylenol] is safe and actually important to use because pain and fevers are associated with adverse developmental outcomes themselves.”
“I’m really worried about the messaging that says pregnant women should just tough it out, that [they] should be denied access to pain relief, which is a fundamental human right…” White continued.
Kennedy has claimed that the U.S. is currently in the grip of an “autism epidemic”, which, according to him, is fueled by “environmental toxins” and childhood vaccines. Whether this is true or not is unknown, because the research into this statement is still in its early stages.
What is true, however, is the spike in autism diagnoses. Thanks to increased awareness and a widely known definition of the condition, more people have been tested for and diagnosed as autistic.
The Washington Post also reported that there has been another “cure” found for autism: low levels of folate (a vitamin that helps build a baby’s brain and spine). HHS will soon recommend leucovorin, a drug that treats cancer and anaemia, to cure it.
Regardless, Trump’s claim regarding the common drug is contradictory to the facts shown by countless previous studies. Tylenol has never been shown to be harmful in any way to pregnant women, unlike tobacco products and alcohol.
Whether this advice from President Trump is to be trusted or not, any pharmaceutical drug should be taken with care during pregnancy, in order not to cause any birth complications.