Trust doctors over Trump on paracetamol, Wes Streeting says

Pregnant women are expected to ignore Donald Trump’s claims that paracetamol could lead their child to have autism, said the United Kingdom Secretary of Health.

“I trust the doctors on President Trump,” Wes Streting told ITV Lorraine, adding that pregnant women should not pay “no attention to the unspected complaints of the American president.

This comes after Trump said that analgesic tylenol, known as paracetamol in the United Kingdom, “is not good” for pregnant women, citing a disputed link between the drug and autism.

Medical experts have strongly rejected, and health officials in the United Kingdom have stressed that paracetamol remains the safest analgesics available for pregnant women.

On its website, the NHS says it is “the first choice of pain relievers if you are pregnant. It is usually taken during pregnancy and does not hurt your baby”.

Aspirin and ibuprofen are normally recommended because these drugs can affect the baby’s circulation. Untreated fever during pregnancy can also be potentially harmful during pregnancy.

Trump on Monday announced that doctors in the United States would be invited not to prescribe Tylenol to pregnant women who, he said, should “fight like hell so as not to take it”.

However, Tuesday morning, Streetting said: “I must be really clear on this subject: there is no evidence to link the use of paracetamol by pregnant women at their children. None.”

He cited a major Swedish study last year involving 2.4 million children, who found no link between the drug and autism.

“Don’t pay attention to what Donald Trump says about medicine,” said Streting, urging people to listen to British doctors, scientists and NHS.

Health authorities quickly denounced Trump’s statements.

The National Autistic Society of the United Kingdom, which represents the autistic peoples and their families, criticized it for spreading the disinformation and “fear”.

“It’s dangerous, it’s anti-scope and it is irresponsible,” said Mel Merritt of the organization in a strongly written declaration.

The Trump administration “peddles the worst myths” and “undergo decades of research by experts respected in the field,” she added.

Trump’s announcement follows a research examination in August, led by the dean of the Chan School of Public Health from Harvard University, which has found a potential association, which means that children can be more likely to develop autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders when exposed to Tylenol during pregnancy. But there may be other explanations for this link.

The team analyzed 46 older studies, 27 of which have reported a link between the use of acetaminophen, the active ingredient in analgesics and an increased risk of neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism and ADHD. But others they looked at have shown no significant link.

The authors said that more research was needed to confirm the results, but recommended prudent use of the limited time of the drug. They also recognized that it was still important to treat maternal fever and pain.

Another study in Japan earlier this year revealed a little increased risk of acetaminophen -related autism. But he said that “the erroneous classification and other biases can partially explain these associations”.

But the Swedish study last year found no evidence in support of an occasional link between autism and acetaminophen.

The widespread opinion of researchers is that there is no cause for autism, which is considered to be the result of a complex mixture of genetic and environmental factors.

In a declaration to the BBC, the manufacturer of Tylenol Kenvue said that science clearly shows that the taking of acetaminophen does not cause autism.

“We are strongly disagreed with any suggestion otherwise and we are deeply concerned about the health risk that this poses to wait for mothers.”

Monique Botha, professor of social and developmental psychology at the University of Durham, said that “fear” could prevent women from asking for appropriate care during their pregnancy.

“There are no robust evidence or convincing studies to suggest that there is a causal relationship,” said the professor, adding that paracetamol is a “much safer pain relief option during pregnancy than essentially any other alternative”.

Echoing this, Professor Claire Anderson, president of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, said that the drug has been “used safely by millions of people for decades, including during pregnancy”.

In the United States, the president of the American College of Obstetricians and gynecologists challenged the link established by Trump, and declared that there was “no clear evidence which proves a direct relationship” between the use of acetaminophen and fetal development problems.

Dr. Steven Fleischman said that the claim “dangerously simplifies the numerous and complex causes of neurological challenges in children”.

In an opinion to doctors, the Food and Drug Administration of the United States (FDA) said that professionals should consider limiting the use of Tylenol, while taking into account the safest over-the-counter option to treat fever and pain in pregnant women, which can also affect maternal and fetal health.

“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 scientific literature,” wrote the FDA.

Speaking alongside Trump, the Secretary in the United States of Health, Robert F Kennedy Jr, said that the FDA would also begin the launch of a change of safety label on the drug and launch a public health campaign to spread awareness.

In the past, Kennedy has offered demystified theories on the increase in autism rates, blaming vaccines despite a lack of evidence.

Trump has also promoted untreated medical allegations, especially during the COVVI-19 pandemic.