"No Link": US Epidemiologist Debunks Trump's Claim On Tylenol, Autism

Reviving debunked theories about vaccines and autism, US President Donald Trump went on television on Monday and insisted that pregnant women should never take Tylenol, a commonly used painkiller in the United States. The drug's active ingredient is acetaminophen, also known as paracetamol outside America. 

Trump, flanked by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, said the Food and Drug Administration will begin notifying physicians immediately that it is "strongly recommending that women limit Tylenol use during pregnancy unless medically necessary."

'No Link Between Tylenol And Autism'

The Republican leader's rambling announcement, which appeared to rely on existing studies rather than significant new research, left many doctors and health experts reeling. American epidemiologist Eric Feigl-Ding pointed out that the announcement can deter women from taking the medication to reduce fever during pregnancy. 

"I always remind people that a mother having a fever while pregnant is very bad. It increases the risk of miscarriages and increases the risk of birth defects in the fetus. So a mother really does not want to have a fever. It is much more dangerous for her...I fear that someone hears this misinformation, says, Oh, I'm not going to take this medicine to lower my fever. But what happens? Miscarriage will increase, and birth defects will increase," said Feigl-Ding.

He stressed that, based on the best available evidence, "there is no link" between the use of acetaminophen during pregnancy and autism in children.

The epidemiologist pointed out that the biggest study of 2.5 million children in Sweden, "which is 10 times, 100 times bigger than any other previous study," found no increased autism risk with acetaminophen (aka paracetamol, Tylenol) use by the mother during pregnancy.

'Upside-Down Dystopia'

Calling the US health department an "upside-down dystopian universe", and its head RFK Jr as the "king of anti-vax", Feigl-Ding said no other country apart from the US was endorsing the theory. 

"It's the same playbook. Trump was talking crazy about drinking bleach, about some hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin, all this stuff against COVID that does not work. And now he's pushing this unscientific claim that no medical association, no obstetrics gynecologist endorses in the United States," he said. 

"This is the world we live in. The US health department is in an upside-down dystopian universe where down is up and up is down. And the anti-vaxxers are now inside, controlling the health department and spreading misinformation about vaccines, as well as Tylenol and paracetamol."

Earlier, in a series of posts on X, Feigl-Ding shared a study on 'acetaminophen use during pregnancy and children's risk of autism, ADHD, and intellectual disability, according to which, sibling control analyses found no evidence that acetaminophen use during pregnancy was associated with autism.

⚠️TYLENOL & AUTISM—RFK Jr and Trump are wrong—the largest & best study in the world in 2.5 MILLION KIDS—found no increased autism risk with acetaminophen (aka paracetamol, Tylenol) use by the mother during pregnancy. A crude unadjusted analysis found only a preliminary 5% risk,… pic.twitter.com/XsIlO623Fq

— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) September 22, 2025

" A crude unadjusted analysis found only a preliminary 5 per cent risk, but once you adjust for family by matching using sibling controls (who didn't get autism), the even tiny 5 per cent risk vaporises to 0 per cent. (Fun fact: I used to do drug safety epidemiology and have been a whistleblower against big pharma when their drugs were dangerous-so I know a few things about drug safety data)," he wrote on X. 

Team Trump's Diktat

Monday's announcement was the latest example of how Kennedy and Trump have sought to upend health guidance and practices, sometimes relying on cherry-picked evidence. Trump also has a record of promoting unfounded medical theories. The White House didn't present new evidence to explain the change, but the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) acknowledged uncertainty in its memo to doctors.

"To be clear, while an association between acetaminophen and autism has been described in many studies, a causal relationship has not been established, and there are contrary studies in the scientific literature," the FDA said in its advisory.