Trump declare linking paracetamol throughout being pregnant to autism rubbished by main new research | EUROtoday

President Donald Trump’s declare that taking paracetamol throughout being pregnant is linked to autism is just not primarily based on sturdy proof, a research has discovered.

The claims have been made by Trump and well being and human providers secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr in September, 2025. They urged ladies to not take Tylenol, generally known as paracetamol within the UK, and repeated quite a few conspiracy theories about autism.

Kennedy, who has beforehand been accused of spreading vaccine misinformation and pushed a discredited idea that routine childhood vaccines have been linked to autism, stated the division would encourage clinicians to prescribe the bottom efficient dose of the ache aid drug.

UK scientists hit again on the “fearmongering” claims and well being secretary Wes Streeting harassed to not “pay any attention whatsoever to what Donald Trump says about medicine.”

Now a evaluation of the medical proof printed in The Lancet Obstetrics, Gynaecology, & Women’s Health journal, has discovered there is no such thing as a sturdy proof that paracetamol use throughout being pregnant will increase the chance of autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity dysfunction (ADHD), or any mental incapacity amongst youngsters.

“Autism diagnoses have surged by 787 per cent in the UK since 1998, which naturally raises questions around what’s behind this trend. It’s simply bad science to automatically assume that this is due to autism becoming much more prevalent. It’s even worse to attribute it to a simple cause like taking paracetamol during pregnancy without foundation,” Dr Lisa Williams, founder and scientific director, The Autism Service, who was not concerned within the research, advised the Independent.

For the research, researchers reviewed 43 papers together with one which used sibling information. The Swedish research of two.4 million births printed in 2024 discovered no relationship between publicity to paracetamol in utero and subsequent autism.

Another instance is a Japanese cohort research, which instructed there was a minor danger of ADHD and autism, however additional evaluation indicated this was on account of “confounding and misclassification” and should have been vulnerable to bias.

Study authors stated beforehand reported associations between paracetamol throughout being pregnant and autism could also be on account of different maternal elements, corresponding to underlying ache, discomfort, fever, or genetic predisposition, somewhat than any direct impact from the paracetamol.

Researchers stated avoiding paracetamol would possibly expose moms and foetuses to the dangers related to untreated ache and fever, corresponding to miscarriage, preterm start or congenital defects.

Experts have praised the “strong and reliable” research for highlighting the wrong claims made by the US administration.

“Expectant moms don’t want the stress of questioning whether or not medication mostly used for a headache may have far reaching results on their youngster’s well being,” Grainne McAlonan, professor of translational neuroscience at King’s College London, stated. “While the impact of last year’s announcement has been extensive, I hope the findings of this study bring the matter to a close.”

Parents of disabled youngsters could also be extra more likely to take paracetamol, in line with Dr Steven Kapp, senior lecturer in psychology on the University of Portsmouth. He defined this may very well be on account of pains from parenting stress or their very own persistent situations – which neurodivergent mother and father usually tend to have.

“As a neurodivergent researcher and advocate, I think an implication is that society needs to stop going down rabbit holes of seeking false prevention of developmental disabilities. Instead, we should focus more on making the world a better place for disabled people,” he stated.

Dr Monique Botha, affiliate professor in social and developmental psychology at Durham University, stated: “When this higher-quality evidence is examined, the findings are clear: there is no evidence that using paracetamol as recommended during pregnancy increases the risk of autism, ADHD, or intellectual disability.”