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The backlash was quick and powerful as other parts of the world woke up to President Donald Trump’s comments.
“Don’t pay attention to anything Donald Trump is talking about medicine. In fact, listen to the stories of British doctors, British scientists. “I trust doctors more than President Trump, frankly speaking, about this.”
It comes after Trump announced Monday that the US Food and Drug Administration would notify doctors that the use of Tylenol, the brand name of acetaminophen known in most countries as paracetamol, could be associated with “autism risk being significantly increased.” Despite decades of evidence that it is safe, Trump suggested that women would limit the use of Tylenol during pregnancy “if you can’t make it difficult.”
The European Union and UK medical regulatory bodies issued a quick statement on Tuesday, confirming that it is safe to take paracetamol while pregnant.
“Paracetamol remains an important option for treating pain and fever in pregnant women,” said Steffen Thirstrup, chief medical officer of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in a statement. “Our advice is based on a rigorous assessment of available scientific data and we found no evidence that taking paracetamol during pregnancy could cause autism in the child.”
Experts warn that untreated fever can be dangerous for both the fetus and pregnant people. Risks include miscarriage, birth defects, and hypertension. Experts also say autism has multiple causes and the science behind the relationship between autism and Tylenol has not been resolved.
A peer-reviewed analysis published in Biomed Central in August examined 46 studies on the use of acetaminophen during pregnancy and neurodevelopmental disorders. Overall, the analysis concluded that there was “strong evidence of a link” between acetaminophen use and autism during pregnancy, but the authors cautioned that studies were unable to show that acetaminophen caused autism. The authors recommended careful use of acetaminophen under medical guidance.
Meanwhile, a 2024 peer-reviewed Swedish study published in the medical journal found no link between acetaminophen collected during pregnancy and autism or other neurodevelopmental disorders.
The EMA statement said in 2019 that it “reviewed available studies that investigated neurodevelopment in children exposed to paracetamol in the uterus and found that the results were inconclusive and that links to neurodevelopmental disorders were not established.”
Regarding UK ITV news, Streeting said: “I have to be really clear about this. There is no evidence linking the use of paracetamol by pregnant women to autism in children. He encouraged the British public to “follow science.” In particular, “You now have a child who has no RSV vaccine in this country dying from measles.
Vaccinations against measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) have been the target of misinformation and warnings by US Health and Human Services Director Robert F. Kennedy Jr., followed by research by British physicians who have since been banned from practicing medicine, which has given credit to autism. Kennedy has led to three deaths and 200 hospitalizations in the US during this year’s outbreak, but has publicly urged people to get a measles vaccine amid advertising unconventional treatments.
Acetaminophen, or paracetamol, is considered the only safe, over-the-counter option for pain and fever during pregnancy. Experts say other common pain relief options, such as ibuprofen and regular doses of aspirin, can increase the risk of serious pregnancy complications.
The UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) stated, “When used according to the instructions, paracetamol remains the recommended pain relief option for pregnant women. Pregnant women should follow the existing NHS (National Health Service) guidance and speak to a healthcare professional if they have questions about medications during pregnancy.”
On Monday, Trump also insisted on breaking childhood vaccinations and pushing shots of hepatitis B for newborns back to age 12. It said “There’s too much liquid, there’s too many different things in the baby,” without citing scientific evidence.
As a public health strategy, providing infants with hepatitis B shots has resulted in infections in children on the brink of exclusion in the US.
And extensive research has shown that there is no relationship between vaccines and autism.
“In the UK and internationally, the benefits of these vaccinations continue to outweigh the risks. Hepatitis B vaccines used in the UK have a well-established safety profile and play an important role in protecting infants from serious illnesses.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said in a statement that the vaccination campaign, which has saved more than 150 million lives in the past 50 years, is being threatened by misinformation.
“The misinformation that pushes the myths of prominent influencers thoroughly exposed, such as disprovement and false claims that the MMR vaccine causes autism, is increasingly driven,” said vaccination director Kate O’Brien.
“Pseudo-science, false logic, and selective ‘evidence’ are weaponized in a way that poses confusion and doubt among well-meaning parents. ”
O’Brien said the outcome of this misinformation was “realistic and tragic,” with the decline in measles vaccine coverage “spurring a significant increase in measles cases and deaths, including wealthy countries such as the US, Canada, the UK and other European countries.”
CNN’s Jen Christensen, Brenda Goodman, Meg Tirrell and Robert North contributed to this report.
