Backlash has been swift and forceful as other parts of the world woke up to US President Donald Trump’s comments blaming – without solid evidence – acetaminophen and certain vaccines for autism in children.
“Don’t pay any attention whatsoever to what Donald Trump says about medicine. In fact, don’t take even my word for it, as a politician – listen to British doctors, British scientists,” UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting said in a televised interview on Tuesday. “I trust doctors over President Trump, frankly, on this.”
It comes after Trump announced Monday the US Food and Drug Administration will notify doctors that the use of Tylenol – the brand name for acetaminophen, known in most countries as paracetamol – during pregnancy can be associated with a “very increased risk of autism.” Despite decades of evidence that it is safe, Trump suggested that women limit Tylenol use during pregnancy “if you can’t tough it out.”
British charity the National Childbirth Trust (NCT), which provides antenatal education for parents, said it had seen a “huge increase” in people searching for information about paracetamol and pregnancy since Monday.
The medicine regulatory agencies of the European Union and the United Kingdom also quickly issued statements Tuesday confirming that taking paracetamol during pregnancy remains safe.
“Paracetamol remains an important option to treat pain or fever in pregnant women,” Steffen Thirstrup, chief medical officer of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), said in a statement. “Our advice is based on a rigorous assessment of the available scientific data and we have found no evidence that taking paracetamol during pregnancy causes autism in children.”
Experts warn that an untreated fever can be dangerous for both the fetus and the pregnant person. Risks include miscarriage, birth defects and high blood pressure. Experts also say there are multiple causes of autism, and the science on a connection between autism and Tylenol is not settled.
A peer-reviewed analysis published in BioMed Central in August looked at 46 studies on acetaminophen use during pregnancy and neurodevelopmental disorders. Overall, the analysis concluded that there was “strong evidence of an association” between acetaminophen use during pregnancy and autism, but the authors were careful to say that the research could not show that acetaminophen caused autism. The authors recommended judicious acetaminophen use, under medical guidance. (CNN)
