CHICAGO (WLS) — Local medical experts are commenting on the Trump administration’s announcement regarding the potential link between the use of Tylenol during pregnancy and an increased risk of autism, despite lacking direct evidence.
President Donald Trump deemed it a “historic announcement” as he stood alongside Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday.
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“Today, the FDA will issue a physicians’ notice concerning the risk of acetaminophen during pregnancy and will initiate changes to safety labeling. HHS will launch a national public service campaign to educate families and protect public health,” Kennedy stated.
Trump mentioned that the Food and Drug Administration will begin notifying physicians about the believed association between pregnant women’s use of acetaminophen, commonly known as Tylenol, and an increased risk of autism in infants.
“With Tylenol, don’t take it. Don’t take it,” Trump advised. “If you can’t live, if your fever is so severe, you might need to take one because there’s no alternative.”
The president even offered direct medical advice to expecting mothers, advising them to avoid taking Tylenol unless they are experiencing a very high fever and cannot “tough it out.”
“So, taking Tylenol is not advisable, all right, I’ll say it, it’s not advisable for this reason. They strongly suggest that women limit Tylenol use during pregnancy unless medically necessary. This applies in cases of extremely high fever that you feel incapable of enduring,” Trump said.
However, many doctors are concerned that the announcement will only cause confusion and incite fear, possibly preventing expectant mothers from getting the treatment they need.
“I also don’t want pregnant people to not treat conditions that we also know are unsafe for a fetus like fever, which is one of the main reasons that people might use this item in their pregnancy and pain,” said Lurie Children’s Hospital Dr. Andrea Spencer.
Physicians at Lurie Children’s Hospital acknowledged that there are genetic, environmental and social risk factors for autism. But Spencer, who is a psychiatry and behavioral health expert, said while autism rates have increased over the past decades, acetaminophen is not the cause of autism or increasing rates.
Spencer and other doctors are now cautioning families to continue to trust their medical providers.
“I think one of the things that I worry about is that people will be scared of using acetaminophen and then use other things that we actually have more evidence are not safe in pregnancy. And so, I do want to really caution people to be careful and make sure you’re going to our medical providers and asking them what’s safe and trusting them,” Spencer said.
The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologist called the suggestions that acetaminophen use in pregnancy cases autism “not only highly concerning to clinicians but also irresponsible,” adding that the announcement “is not backed by the full body of scientific evidence and dangerously simplifies the many and complex causes of neurologic challenges in children. It is highly unsettling that our federal health agencies are willing to make an announcement that will affect the health and well-being of millions of people without the backing of reliable data.”
The statement continued to say in the more two decades of research of the use of acetaminophen in pregnancy, “not a single reputable study” has made a definitive conclusion that use of acetaminophen has caused neurodevelopmental disorders in children.
Meanwhile, autism and disability advocates are worried about the mental well-being of families impacted by autism.
“As a mother of a child with autism, the guilt that I have carried and that many of my friends who have children with autism have carried is great,” said The Arc Illinois Executive Director Samantha Alloway. “Misinformation like this is putting the pressure already back on the mothers and on the families of, ‘you did this.’ And that is a weight that families do not want to and do not deserve to carry.”
The Coalition of Autism Scientists also pointed out that while some studies point to a possible link, it still does not support the claims made in Monday’s announcement, saying, “these studies fail to address the fact that fevers during pregnancy are known to increase risk for autism, and that’s why mothers take acetaminophen in the first place.”
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