Unsurprisingly, Trump’s comments were met with strong pushback from doctors and other members of the medical community. The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday there was no conclusive scientific evidence that confirmed a possible link between autism and the use of paracetamol during pregnancy.

There is no evidence of a causal link between the use of paracetamol in pregnancy and the development of autism or ADHD in children. Source: AAP / AP / Jae C. Hong

In Australia, the link was firmly rejected by the Therapeutic Goods Administration and chief medical officer Michael Kidd.

“But what not a single one of those studies have shown is any kind of causal link in any way, shape or form.”

A major 2024 Swedish study, considered one of the most high-quality on the matter, found no association between use of paracetamol in pregnancy and risk of autism, ADHD or intellectual disability. The study looked at nearly 2.5 million children born in the country between 1995 and 2019, with nearly 186,000 children exposed to paracetamol during pregnancy.

Why are non-evidence-based claims about autism so common?

The 1950s gave rise to the since widely discredited ‘refrigerator mother’ theory: that a lack of warmth from one’s parents — and in particular their mothers — could explain an autism diagnosis. Such a theory has been largely abandoned since the 1970s, with subsequent studies linking diagnosis to genetics.

“There’s a much-wanted, much-loved, much-valued and cherished child. The parents watch that child develop differently, and there’s no very simple reason to describe and explain why that has happened,” he said.

Andrew Whitehouse said an “information void” had allowed non-evidence-based claims and conspiracy theories around autism to flourish. Source: Supplied

That provides ample room, Whitehouse said, for people to push misinformation that attributes a single cause for the development of autism — some well-meaning, others who are “out-and-out charlatans”.

“The conspiracy theorist looks at the gap and [sees] some mal-intent or something nasty going on,” he said. “The researcher sees the gap and says, can I find out what it is? I think that’s the fundamental difference.”

‘Nothing wrong’ with being autistic

That kind of framing is “inherently sexist”, David Tonge, CEO of support organisation Amaze, told SBS News earlier this week, ahead of Trump’s announcement. “This is an insidious line of discussion that is hurtful to mums,” he said.

That notion is one many in the autism community reject: that it is not their condition that is disabling, but the neurotypical societal structures and harmful attitudes that surround them.