United States President Donald Trump has urged pregnant women to avoid Tylenol, the brand name for paracetamol, over the painkiller\u2019s unproven links to autism, prompting a swift backlash from doctors and scientists.<\/p>\n
Trump issued the warning on Monday as the US drug regulator announced plans to add a label to paracetamol warning of an increased risk of autism and ADHD in children.<\/p>\n
Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t take Tylenol. Don\u2019t take it,\u201d Trump said during a news conference at the White House while flanked by top public health officials.<\/p>\n
\u201cFight like hell not to take it,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere may be a point where you have to, and that you\u2019ll have to work out with yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump also cast doubt on the medical consensus on childhood vaccines, suggesting that inoculations for measles, mumps and rubella should be administered separately instead of in the combined MMR shot.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is based on what I feel. The mumps, measles \u2013 the three should be taken separately,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd it seems to be that when you mix them, there could be a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s comments drew condemnation from medical bodies, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG), which have long recommended paracetamol as one of the few painkillers that is safe for women during pregnancy.<\/p>\n
About half of pregnant women worldwide are estimated to take paracetamol \u2013 which is sold in different countries under brand names including Dyman, Panadol and Panamax \u2013 for pain relief and to reduce fevers, which can be potentially dangerous to both the foetus and the expectant mother.<\/p>\n
ACOG president Steven J Fleischman called the suggestions of a link between paracetamol and autism \u201cirresponsible\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen considering the use of medication in pregnancy, it\u2019s important to consider all potential risks along with any benefits,\u201d Fleischman said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe data from numerous studies have shown that acetaminophen plays an important \u2013 and safe \u2013 role in the well-being of pregnant women,\u201d Fleischman said, using the name for paracetamol in the US.<\/p>\n
While some research has found evidence of an association between paracetamol and neurological conditions such as autism, medical experts have cautioned that more robust studies have found no link, and that causation remains unproven.<\/p>\n
One of the biggest population-based studies, published by Swedish researchers last year in The Journal of the American Medical Association, found no link when comparing children who had been exposed to the painkiller with siblings who had not.<\/p>\n
Arthur Caplan, a bioethicist at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, described the Trump administration\u2019s moves as \u201chugely negative\u201d for public health.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe big reveal about autism was a total bust full of misinformation, a lack of evidence, bad advice and a bogus answer about the cause,\u201d Caplan told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think mainstream medicine will ignore what he said today,\u201d Caplan said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think patients can\u2019t trust federal science in the USA and must turn to other reputable sources.\u201d<\/p>\n
Catherine Lord, a professor of psychiatry at UCLA who specialises in autism, said studies showing a link between paracetamol use and autism were limited by the presence of confounding factors that are difficult to control for.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the medical community will be firm that Tylenol in pregnancy does not cause autism, but will probably tell pregnant women they should always be careful about medication,\u201d Lord told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut they also need to realise that having a high fever or being in pain is not good for a growing baby either, so they should consult their doctor.\u201d<\/p>\n
In its updated guidelines announced on Monday, the US Food and Drug Administration cited evidence of a \u201ccorrelation\u201d between paracetamol use and autism, and noted studies suggesting a heightened risk when the drug is taken \u201cchronically\u201d throughout pregnancy.<\/p>\n
Still, the drug regulator was notably less emphatic than Trump, noting that a causal relationship had yet to be established, and the existence of \u201ccontrary studies in the scientific literature\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is also noted that acetaminophen is the only over-the-counter drug approved for use to treat fevers during pregnancy, and high fevers in pregnant women can pose a risk to their children,\u201d the regulator said, using the other generic name for paracetamol.<\/p>\n
Autism has no known single cause, but is believed to be related to an interplay of genetic and environmental factors, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"United States President Donald Trump has urged pregnant women to avoid Tylenol, the brand name for paracetamol, over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":175825,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,12,2605,97,259,3,21,19,22,20,25,1209,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-175824","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-drugs","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-mental-health","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-united-states-of-america","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-us-canada","20":"tag-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175824\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}