Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: As is his wont, US President Donald Trump on Monday sought to hog world headlines with his “historic” announcement on children’s health, only to find the World Health Organization (WHO) and global experts rubbishing his unproven claims.
In an extraordinary press conference at the White House, he linked autism to childhood vaccine use and the taking of popular pain medication Tylenol by pregnant women, and elevated claims not backed by scientific evidence to the forefront of US health policy, the media reported on Tuesday.
Standing with the controversial Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who claims no vaccine is safe, Trump called for a re-examination of the link between vaccines and autism. This theory has been repeatedly debunked.
He delivered medical advice to pregnant women and parents of young children, repeatedly telling them not to use or administer the painkiller and suggesting that common vaccines not be taken together or so early in a child’s life, the media reported.
The advice from Trump, who acknowledged he is not a doctor, went against that of medical societies, which said that acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, plays a safe role in the well-being of pregnant women.
“I want to say it like it is, don’t take Tylenol. Don’t take it,” Trump said. “Other things that we recommend, or certainly I do anyway, is … don’t let them pump your baby up with the largest pile of stuff you’ve ever seen in your life,” he said, referring to vaccines.
The widely used over-the-counter pain relief medication is also known generically as paracetamol elsewhere.
WHO’s spokesperson Tarik Jašarević said that evidence of a link between the use of paracetamol during pregnancy and autism remains inconsistent,
Dozens of medical, research, and autism advocacy groups, including the American Academy of Paediatrics and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, decried the President’s announcement.
“The data cited do not support the claim that Tylenol causes autism and leucovorin is a cure, and only stoke fear and falsely suggest hope when there is no simple answer,” the Coalition of Autism Scientists said in a statement.
“We believe independent, sound science clearly shows that taking acetaminophen does not cause autism. We strongly disagree with any suggestion otherwise and are deeply concerned with the health risk this poses for expecting mothers and parents,” Kenvue, the maker of Tylenol, said in a statement.
Britain’s health regulator said it is safe to use the pain relief treatment paracetamol and that there is no evidence of it causing autism in children.
The Tylenol-autism link announcement was reminiscent of Trump’s regular press briefings in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, when he would frequently dispense unscientific advice, including his suggestion that people ingest bleach.
The Trump administration has asked drug companies to be prepared to ramp up production of leucovorin as a treatment for some autism patients, Food and Drug Administration chief Marty Makary told reporters.
The FDA cited a review of the use of leucovorin in 40 patients with a rare metabolic disorder called cerebral folate deficiency that can lead to a range of neurological symptoms, some of which are seen in people with autism.
But researchers said there is no firm evidence of a link between the use of Tylenol and autism. A 2024 study of nearly 2.5 million children in Sweden found no causal link between in-utero exposure to acetaminophen and neurodevelopmental disorders.
A 2025 review of 46 earlier studies did suggest a link between prenatal acetaminophen exposure and increased risks of these conditions, but the researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Harvard University and others said the study does not prove the drug caused the outcomes.
Researchers say leucovorin, used to treat some cancer patients on chemotherapy, has shown some promise in very small trials, but that large, randomized trials are still needed.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) also said that there was no new evidence that would require changes to the region’s current recommendations for the use of paracetamol during pregnancy.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said that he would launch an “all-agency” effort to identify all causes of autism, involving the National Institutes of Health, the FDA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, at President Trump’s direction
Trump had earlier teased the autism announcement as a big one, saying, “I think we found an answer to autism.”