By Joseph Cunningham
Photo by AP Photo’s Michael Conroy
On Monday, Sept. 22, President Donald Trump claimed during a press conference that taking acetaminophen, or Tylenol, while pregnant increases risk of autism in the child. Trump, along with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Dr. Mehmet Oz, made many other controversial claims during the conference relating to hepatitis B vaccines, and kids being injected with “horse-sized” vaccines. Since then, a range of experts from across the globe have rejected Trump’s claims.
“Available evidence has found no link between the use of paracetamol during pregnancy and autism,” said the European Medicines Agency (EMA). Even the FDA commissioner Marty Makary wrote an open letter to physicians stating that, “Acetaminophen is the safest over-the-counter alternative in pregnancy among all analgesics and antipyretics.”
Current evidence suggests that acetaminophen is the safest option for pregnant women to take to relieve fevers with an estimated 65% of pregnant women using it for pain relief and other extreme pains while pregnant. The Harvard studies that Trump’s admin cites state themselves that further research is needed to confirm the association and determine causality.
The admin claims that autism has risen five times in the past 25 years, claiming that the cause must be environmental and not genetic, also denying the role in how our understanding of autism has changed dramatically over the years with DSM-V (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) being released in that time frame in 2013. This affects the amount of people diagnosed, as well as access to healthcare and testing facilities playing a role.
In 2001, all 50 states implemented insurance mandates to cover autism therapy and diagnosis. Not to mention the lessening stigma against autism with more younger people being willing to get tested in the first place.
There is conversation starting on how the FDAs announcement could cause confusion as to which medication is safe to take during pregnancy and cause patients to attempt other medications, which could cause actual harm to the child, such as common pain reliever Ibuprofen, or other NSAIDs (Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs), which has much more reliable links to heart defects and kidney defects. There is also considerable risk to Trump wanting women to “tough it out” as fevers have proven to increase risks of heart defects, or even facial deformities for the unborn baby.