While the underlying cause or causes of autism spectrum disorder remain elusive and appear likely to be a complex interplay of genetic and environmental factors, President Trump and his anti-vaccine health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.\u2014neither of whom have any scientific or medical background whatsoever\u2014have decided to pin the blame on Tylenol, a common pain reliever and fever reducer that has no proven link to autism.<\/p>\n
And now, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing the maker of Tylenol<\/a>, Kenvue and Johnson & Johnson, who previously sold Tylenol, claiming that they have been \u201cdeceptively marketing Tylenol\u201d knowing that it \u201cleads to a significantly increased risk of autism and other disorders.\u201d<\/p>\n To back that claim, Paxton relies on the \u201cconsiderable body of evidence\u2026 recently highlighted by the Trump Administration.\u201d<\/p>\n Of course, there is no \u201cconsiderable\u201d evidence for this claim, only tenuous associations and conflicting studies. Trump and Kennedy\u2019s justification for blaming Tylenol was revealed in a rambling, incoherent press conference<\/a> last month, in which Trump spoke of a \u201crumor\u201d about Tylenol and his \u201copinion\u201d on the matter. Still, he firmly warned against its use, saying well over a dozen times: \u201cdon\u2019t take Tylenol.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t take Tylenol. There\u2019s no downside. Don\u2019t take it. You\u2019ll be uncomfortable. It won\u2019t be as easy maybe, but don\u2019t take it if you\u2019re pregnant. Don\u2019t take Tylenol and don\u2019t give it to the baby after the baby is born,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cScientifically unfounded\u201d<\/p>\n As Ars has reported previously<\/a>, there are some studies that have found an association between use of Tylenol (aka acetaminophen or paracetamol) and a higher risk of autism. But, many of the studies finding such an association have significant flaws. Other studies have found no link. That includes a highly regarded Swedish study<\/a> that compared autism risk among siblings with different acetaminophen exposures during pregnancy, but otherwise similar genetic and environmental risks. Acetaminophen didn\u2019t make a difference, suggesting other genetic and\/or environmental factors might explain any associations. Further, even if there is a real association (aka a correlation) between acetaminophen use and autism risk, that does not mean the pain reliever is the cause of autism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While the underlying cause or causes of autism spectrum disorder remain elusive and appear likely to be a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":105928,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[134,524,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-105927","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-medication","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}