US President Donald Trump on Tuesday offered advice on medicines and vaccines during a White House press conference and linked them to autism rates. "I'm not a doctor, but I'm giving my opinion," Trump said.
After months of investigations led by US health and human services secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, Trump announced that pregnant women should reduce their use of acetaminophen, which is commonly sold as Tylenol in the United States and as paracetamol in India and other countries. He claimed that using the drug during pregnancy raises the risk of autism in children.
This advice is at odds with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, which has long stated that acetaminophen is safe to use during pregnancy, news agency Associated Press reported.. Trump also spoke about when young children should be given painkillers.
Standing next to Robert F Kennedy Jr, who is known for questioning vaccines, Trump did not reject vaccines completely. However, he said that some vaccines should be delayed and that combination vaccines should instead be given as separate shots.
"Don’t let them pump your baby up with the largest pile of stuff you’ve ever seen in your life," Trump said.
"It’s not that everything’s 100% understood or known, but I think we’ve made a lot of strides," he added.
He also said: "Taking Tylenol is not good … All pregnant women should talk to their doctors about limiting the use of this medication while pregnant."
During the press conference, Trump repeated the instruction, "Don’t take Tylenol," about a dozen times. He also told mothers not to give the medicine to their babies. The US president said pregnant women should "tough it out" and only take the drug if they had an "extremely high fever."
Trump repeated older claims that vaccine ingredients or giving shots close together in time could be linked to rising autism rates in the United States. He did not provide medical proof for these claims.
The announcement seemed to be based on previously published studies rather than new research. It comes at a time when the "Make America Healthy Again" movement, which includes Kennedy supporters and some anti-vaccine activists, has been asking for more investigation into the causes of autism.
Trump also said the Food and Drug Administration would start informing doctors that acetaminophen "can be associated" with a higher risk of autism. He did not explain what evidence was behind this recommendation.
What is autism?
Autism isn’t a disease. It’s a complex developmental condition better known as autism spectrum disorder that affects different people in different ways.
It can include delays in language, learning or social and emotional skills. For some people, profound autism means being nonverbal and having intellectual disabilities, but the vast majority of people experience far milder effects.
There is no blood test or brain scan to determine who has autism, just the observations of clinicians and what parents tell them, The New York Times said in a report.
Genes and environment both play a role
Scientists say autism, a neurodevelopmental condition, is linked to a complicated mix of genetic and environmental factors, with hundreds of genes now associated with it.
"I do remember 30 years ago the geneticists being quite optimistic that we were talking about maybe six to 10 genes that might be contributing to autism risk, and now we know that number is literally in the hundreds," Helen Tager-Flusberg, a psychologist at Boston University was quoted as saying by The New York Times. "Finding even the genetic basis of autism is turning into a far more complex a picture than we might have imagined."
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has carried out large-scale research into autism risk factors. Scientists have studied many possible contributors, such as air pollution, exposure to harmful chemicals, and viral infections during pregnancy.
Some studies indicate that children born to older parents may face a higher risk. Other research points to premature birth or low birth weight as possible links to autism.
Acetaminophen link to Autism: What the evidence shows
Researchers have been examining acetaminophen, the main ingredient in Tylenol and other pain relievers, for more than 10 years. Some studies have suggested that when pregnant women use the drug, their children may face a higher risk of developing neurodevelopmental disorders later. Other studies that controlled for factors such as genetics did not find such a link.
In August, scientists from the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai reviewed 46 earlier studies on acetaminophen use during pregnancy, including eight that focused specifically on autism.
The review analyzed existing studies but did not generate new data. The researchers reported that there was an association between acetaminophen use during pregnancy and conditions such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism. However, they stressed that this did not prove acetaminophen causes autism. They noted that women who took Tylenol during pregnancy may differ in significant ways from those who did not, such as in their underlying health problems or genetic background.
One large study published in 2024, which tracked 2.5 million children in Sweden, found that the link between acetaminophen and neurodevelopmental disorders disappeared when comparing siblings born to the same mother.
Rising autism rates
Autism rates have been rising for several decades, and researchers point to two main reasons. One is that the definition of autism has expanded as scientists have developed a broader understanding of its range of traits and symptoms. This led to changes in the criteria doctors use to diagnose the condition and to improvements in screening.
Another factor is that parents increasingly pursued a diagnosis as awareness of autism grew and schools began providing educational support services that could benefit children with the condition.
Up until the 1990s, autism diagnoses were usually limited to children with the most severe symptoms. In the early 2000s, as the definition changed, about 1 in 150 children were estimated to have autism. The most recent estimates show that about 1 in 31 children are now identified with autism spectrum disorder.
Helen Tager-Flusberg, an expert at Boston University, as quoted by NYT, said the rise is not coming from the most severe cases but from the milder ones that were not previously recognized as autism.
There is no single medical test for autism; diagnosis relies on developmental and behavioral evaluations. Experts also say it remains uncertain whether additional factors may be contributing to the increase.