The US president’s claims that there is a link between paracetamol and autism have been widely corrected by health officials – but popular voices in the autism community say they fear the impact that his rhetoric will have.
Content creators with autism say Donald Trump’s claims that there is a link between paracetamol and the condition are « really dangerous for the autism community ».
The US president said on Monday that there had been a « meteoric rise » in cases of autism and suggested that the use of Tylenol – an American-branded version of paracetamol – during pregnancy is a potential cause.
While the rates of autism diagnoses are going up, studies suggesting a correlation between mothers who took paracetamol during pregnancy and the birth of a child with autism have been far from conclusive.
Sky News has spoken to content creators in the autism community who are concerned about the potential impact of Mr Trump’s claims.
Chelsea Webster, founder of the online Autism Support Group, says she believes that the president is shifting the narrative around autism from supporting those struggling to prevention of diagnosis, and that she’s concerned this will lead research, awareness and advocacy efforts away from improving the lives of those who need help.
« What this actually does is it raises political opinion above science and data, which is really dangerous because it undermines peer-backed science and data », she explains.
« And we don’t want that because that spreads misinformation, which is really dangerous for the autism community. »
She acknowledges that there was a study which connected Tylenol taken during pregnancy to the potential of autism in babies, but adds it is « a correlation, not a causation ».
