Oz, who leads the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, appeared on TMZ Live as the health world continued to react to the Trump administration\u2019s pronouncement that use of acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, during pregnancy was linked to diagnoses of autism. Evidence on the matter is inconclusive, and many studies suggest that the accusations are unfounded.<\/a><\/p>\n The former TV doc told TMZ\u2019s hosts what many independent medical experts urged in the wake of the administration\u2019s pronouncement on Monday: that pregnant women fighting illnesses that cause fevers may still be prescribed the drug by their doctors, and should follow those recommendations from their primary-care providers.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you have a high fever\u2026.the doctor\u2019s almost certainly going to prescribe you something,\u201d said Oz, who\u2019d stood beside Trump as the president urged mothers not to take the drug a day earlier. \u201cTylenol might be one of the things they give [you].<\/p>\n \u201cTake it when it\u2019s appropriate,\u201d Oz then said, before adding that Tylenol was \u201cprobably your best option\u201d for fighting lower-grade fevers that don\u2019t require hospitalization.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s administration has been under pressure from supporters of his health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., since the president took office in January to commit federal resources to discovering the factors which may contribute to children being diagnosed with conditions on the autism spectrum. <\/p>\n Kennedy, a longtime supporter of \u201calternative\u201d medicine and a skeptic of established medical discipline and practice, has in the past suggested links between the condition and various unproven \u201ccauses\u201d such as early childhood vaccinations.<\/p>\n In reality, most experts agree that the reason for the spike in autism diagnoses is the contemporary understanding of a condition that was barely understood by the public even a few decades ago.<\/p>\n One U.S. government-funded study, the largest to date on the subject of autism diagnoses, found that taking Tylenol during pregnancy carried no increased risk of a later autism diagnosis for infants.<\/p>\n Dimitrios Siassakos, professor in obstetrics and gynecology at University College London and honorary consultant in obstetrics at University College London Hospital (UCLH), has said: \u201cAutism results from several factors, often combined, particularly genetic predisposition, and sometimes low oxygen at the time of birth as a result of complications.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cResearch has shown that any apparent marginal increase as a result of paracetamol\/acetaminophen use in pregnancy tends to disappear when the analyses take into account the factors that matter most,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n On Monday, Trump hosted a press conference with Kennedy at the White House where the president went beyond even the unproven claims being pushed by Kennedy to make his own pronouncement on the drug that was full of his typical bluster and imprecision: \u201cWith Tylenol, don\u2019t take it. Don\u2019t take it.\u201d<\/p>\n Many doctors have reacted to the president\u2019s remarks this week with worry that his unproven claims will cause feelings of judgement and shame<\/a> among mothers of children diagnosed as autistic out of fear they were to blame for their child\u2019s diagnosis.<\/p>\n![\"Dr](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Trump_76102.jpg\")
Dr Oz, right, stood alongside Donald Trump and RFK Jr. as Trump gave unqualified medical advice to women from behind the presidential seal on Monday (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n