On Monday, Donald Trump told pregnant women not to take Tylenol, also called paracetamol in the UK, suggesting it could cause autism.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting joined scientists worldwide in rejecting the claims. He told ITV Lorraine: “I would just say to people watching, don’t pay any attention whatsoever to what Donald Trump says about medicine.”
Streeting added: “I trust doctors over President Trump, frankly, on this. I’ve just got to be really clear about this: there is no evidence to link the use of paracetamol by pregnant women to autism in their children. None.”
He pointed to a major study in 2024 in Sweden involving 2.4 million children. “So I would just say to people watching, don’t pay any attention whatsoever to what Donald Trump says about medicine. In fact, don’t even take my word for it, as a politician – listen to British doctors, British scientists, the NHS.”
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Streeting stressed: “It’s really important that at a time when you know there is scepticism – and I don’t think scepticism itself, asking questions is in itself a bad thing, by all means, ask questions – but we’ve got to follow medical science.”
The NHS website says “paracetamol is the first choice of painkiller if you’re pregnant. It’s commonly taken during pregnancy and does not harm your baby.”
Scientists have warned that Trump’s claims could “risk stigmatising families who have autistic children as having brought it on themselves” and stop women from getting proper care during pregnancy.
Dr Monique Botha associate professor at Durham University said: “I am exceptionally confident in saying that no relationship exists. The fearmongering will prevent women from accessing the appropriate care during pregnancy. Similarly pain relief for pregnant women is woefully lacking and paracetamol is a much safer pain relief option during pregnancy than basically any other alternative and we need to take pain seriously for women, including whilst pregnant.”
She added: “Further, it risks stigmatising families who have autistic children as having brought it on themselves and reinvigorates the long pattern of maternal shame and blame as we’ve seen re-emerge repeatedly over the last 70 years where we try to pay the fault of autism at the mother’s door one way or another.”
Dr Edward Mullins clinical associate professor at The George Institute for Global Health Imperial College London said: “In the absence of any new evidence, the reported press release from the Trump administration claiming it is would appear to be an unsubstantiated theory which is likely to lead to an essential treatment for fever and pain being denied to women in pregnancy without good reason, contrary to US and European medical guidance.”
Professor Claire Anderson president of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society said: “Paracetamol has been used safely by millions of people for decades, including during pregnancy, when taken as directed.” She added that a large 2024 study found no evidence of a link with autism.
Dr Alison Cave chief safety officer for the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency said: “There is no evidence that taking paracetamol during pregnancy causes autism in children. Our advice on medicines in pregnancy is based on rigorous assessment of the best available scientific evidence. Any new evidence that could affect our recommendations would be carefully evaluated by our independent scientific experts.”
Featured image via YouTube screengrab
