« They are reviewing existing literature, and they’re doing it badly. »
President Donald Trump and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have officially found scapegoats to blame for rising rates of reported autism cases. In a report published today by HHS, the government has linked the use of acetaminophen (better known as Tylenol) during pregnancy to the neurodevelopmental condition.
Trump made the announcement at a news conference Tuesday afternoon, though the Wall Street Journal was the first to break the news on the expected findings earlier this month. The report singles out acetaminophen use and folate deficiency as possible autism causes and even suggests a specific drug used to improve the latter—leucovorin—as a potential autism treatment.
“Taking Tylenol is not good—I’ll say it, it’s not good,” Trump stated decidedly during the conference, though he went on to admit that there are no safer alternative over-the-counter painkillers for pregnant women to take. RFK Jr., meanwhile, stated that the FDA will be taking formal steps to add a safety label to acetaminophen products warning of its supposed autism risk, while HHS will be conducting a public health campaign to highlight the link.
Outside experts are dubious about the report, however, arguing that its findings are based on weak and mixed evidence, at best.Why Tylenol is a red herring
Perhaps the biggest red flag surrounding this report is Trump and RFK Jr.’s grandiose language advertising it. Both men have crowed about finding the singular cause or answer to autism spectrum disorder.
“I’ve been waiting for this meeting for 20 years.” Trump said during the news conference. “And it’s not that everything is 100% understood or known. But I think we’ve made a lot of strides.”
Actual scientists, however, have long known that autism is generally triggered by a mix of genetic and environmental influences—influences that aren’t easily untangled.
The rate of reported autism cases in children has gone up over time. Many experts have argued that a greater awareness of autism symptoms and broader criteria in how autism is diagnosed are largely responsible for this increase. But Trump, RFK Jr., and others have refused to accept this conclusion, and have instead looked to point a finger at some external culprit in the environment.
Some environmental factors could be contributing slightly to more autism cases, such as people having children at an older age than before, but there are good reasons why Tylenol is unlikely to be a good villain for the Trump administration to blame.
“There’s nothing new here. They are reviewing existing literature, and they’re doing it badly,” David Mandell, an autism researcher and psychiatric epidemiologist at the University of Pennsylvania, told Gizmodo. Mandell is also an executive committee member of the Coalition of Autism Scientists, an organization that formed in response to RFK Jr.’s initial announcement earlier this April that he would supposedly uncover the causes of autism.
Some studies, including a review published last month, have suggested that prenatal exposure to acetaminophen could increase the risk of several neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Importantly, though, many other studies haven’t, including studies that have tried to account for the weaknesses in the data being analyzed.
