In targeting a common painkiller, Trump oversteps his own advisers’ guidance on autism

In labeling Tylenol use in pregnant women as a potential cause of autism, Trump threw the full weight of his office behind a theory that he acknowledged has yet to be proven. He defied the careful guidance offered by some in the row of scientific advisers who stood behind him during the Roosevelt Room address.

“They’re waiting for certain studies," said Trump, who struggled to pronounce “acetaminophen," the generic name of the drug. “I want to say it like it is: Don’t take Tylenol. Don’t take it."

The president noted that he was diverging from the medical leaders he chose to guide him, who offered a more calibrated warning on Tylenol use. “Bobby wants to be very careful with what he says," Trump said, referring to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “But I’m not so careful with what I say."

Scientists and medical groups decried Trump’s warning on Tylenol as unfounded and potentially dangerous given the downsides of untreated fever and pain during pregnancy. So did some fellow conservatives.

“The President is scaring moms with research about autism that does not hold up under much scrutiny," the Christian broadcaster Erick Erickson wrote on X.

The setting for Trump’s announcement was a long-hyped news conference on the causes of autism, a condition that impacts an estimated 1 in 31 children in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, causing heartache for families, many of whom must reorder their lives around the condition.

Some of them spoke Monday at the White House, offering insight about the pain of seeing their children frustrated as they struggle to communicate and the isolation they can feel. “Unless you’ve lived with profound autism, you have no idea," said Amanda Rumer, the mother of one autistic child who attended the announcement. As to what she thought caused autism, she remarked, “I have no idea."

Trump’s U.S. Food and Drug Administration guidance on the link between acetaminophen and autism was far more nuanced. “To be clear, while an association between acetaminophen and autism has been described in many studies, a causal relationship has not been established and there are contrary studies in the scientific literature," according to the official notice Trump’s administration released Monday.

The FDA guidance leaves room for women to use the painkiller, saying only that physicians should “consider minimizing the use of acetaminophen during pregnancy for routine low-grade fevers."

Articulating a clear cause for autism is a topic on which Trump has shown particular interest during his second presidential term. He’s touted that his health department would announce a cause for disease during several cabinet meetings and even referenced it on Sunday when giving remarks at a memorial for slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

The president also urged parents to spread out required vaccinations for young children. Here he did not let practicality disrupt his guidance. The vaccines against measles, mumps and rubella should be separated and taken over the course of several visits to the doctor, Trump said, even though most doctors in the U.S. don’t have separate vaccines for each disease.

Monday’s tableau was reminiscent of the last time Trump played the role of physician-in-chief, giving long news conferences during the Covid-19 pandemic.

During these sessions, Trump pushed unproven treatments like ivermectin and mused about the benefits of injecting bleach in the human body to combat the virus.

One difference between now and then: Some of Trump’s backdrop of first-term medical advisers openly rolled their eyes at Trump’s inaccurate Covid-related pronouncements. This time, advisers nodded or kept their faces straight while Trump offered medical advice that is not supported by science.

Trump’s commentary on alleged risks related to acetaminophen wasn’t limited to pregnant women. He said that young children should avoid taking the drug, without citing research on its harms. That would mean forgoing a common medication widely viewed as safe for treating fever in children.

As evidence for his views, Trump pointed to the Amish population in the U.S. The group avoids medications, including Tylenol, and has a low reported rate of autism. He also said there is a rumor that Cubans have low autism rates because they can’t afford Tylenol. Rumors, he said, can become fact.

Tylenol is currently viewed as the safest pain medicine approved for pregnant women to use, and some scientists warn that prolonged, untreated fever can harm fetal development. So directing pregnant women to avoid Tylenol leaves little alternative. The president sought to address that concern, telling pregnant women they could consider using Tylenol to reduce a fever if they couldn’t endure it. But he encouraged them to withstand it without medication.

“It’s easy for me to say ‘tough it out,’ but sometimes in life," he said, “you have to tough it out."