‘Historic’ White House Announcement on Autism and Tylenol Causes Confusion
On Monday, President Donald Trump was standing next to the team “Make America Healthy Again” for a “historic” announcement on autism. In April, the secretary of health and social services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had promised to reveal what caused the “autism epidemic” in September.
At the beginning of this month, people close to the Maha movement suggested that the announcement of Kennedy’s future autism would link the use of Tylenol during pregnancy with the condition. The researchers feared that it turns into vaccines. Kennedy and Trump have both disinfreated on an association between vaccines and autism in the past, despite many rigorous studies refuting any link.
Ann Bauer at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell, an epidemiologist who co-wrote a recent analysis on tylenol and autism, said to me: “I was sick in the stomach”, fearing that Kennedy will distort the conclusions of her team. She also feared that scientists reject the measured concerns of her team concerning tylenol in a reaction against politicized or misleading remarks.
Bauer and his colleagues had reviewed 46 studies on tylenol, autism and attention to attention / hyperactivity deficit. Many have not found any link, while some have suggested that Tylenol could sometimes exacerbate other potential causes of autism, such as genetics.
Since Tylenol is the only safe analgesic to use during pregnancy and fever during pregnancy can be scary and dangerous, the team suggested a judicious use of the drug until science is set.
This is not what Trump advised. “Don’t take Tylenol,” he said. “Do not give Tylenol to the baby.
In the declarations sent by email, the HHS and the White House spokesperson said that Trump used “standard gold science” to cope with increasing autism rates.
Helen Tager-Flusberg, director of the Center for Autism Research Excellence at the University of Boston, described the comments of dangerous Trump. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Scientists told me that he had never been invited to inform Kennedy or the White House on autism, or to review the recommendations. If researchers had been interviewed, they would have explained that no drug, chemical or other environmental factor is strongly linked to the development disorder.
Quick solutions – The type promised by Kennedy – will not make a bump, Tager -Flusberg. “We know that genetics is the most important risk factor,” she said, “but you cannot blame Big Pharma for genetics, and you cannot build a political movement on genetics research and the tour towards victory.”
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