Trump press conference fuels misinformation on Tylenol and autism

"Acetaminophen -- which is basically commonly known as Tylenol -- during pregnancy can be associated with a very increased risk of autism," Trump asserted during a September 22, 2025 press conference. "So taking Tylenol is not good."

Numerous social media posts on Instagram, TikTok and X celebrated Trump's claim, some commenting long-suppressed evidence was finally acknowledged thanks to the White House.

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Screenshot of an Instagram post taken September 26, 2025

Trump's Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had previously promised he would announce a cause for autism by September, sparking concern from experts due to his past inflammatory comments on the condition.

As Kennedy and other top medical officials in the US government stood by, the president repeatedly called out Tylenol use during pregnancy, also claiming there is no autism in communities such as the Christian traditionalist Amish because they decline the use of acetaminophen -- also known as paracetamol -- and vaccines.

But experts told AFP the president is incorrect in his assertions about the Amish community, where autism is observed though likely underdiagnosed due to the rejection of most modern medicine.

The World Health Organization pushed back on the president's claims on acetaminophen in a September 24 statement, explaining "no consistent association has been established between" autism and use of the drug during pregnancy (archived here).

Health authorities for Canada, the European Union and the United Kingdom all responded with similar statements affirming there was no conclusive evidence that acetaminophen raised the risk of autism for the fetus when taken as directed by a pregnant person (archived here, here and here).

Most of these health departments also explained that acetaminophen remains a safer way to treat fever and pain during pregnancy, since other drugs such as aspirin and ibuprofen have proven risks when expecting a child.

Autism researchers have warned that Trump's comments are likely to cause unnecessary fear among parents and further stigmatize people with autism spectrum disorders.

"Any association between acetaminophen and autism is based on limited, conflicting, and inconsistent science and is premature," said Autism Science Foundation Chief Science Officer Alycia Halladay in a September 22 press release (archived here).

No established link

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) press release and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) physician advice published after the press conference advised caution but used much more measured language than Trump's assertions about acetaminophen and pregnancy (archived here and here). 

While HHS said it "would act" on "prior clinical and laboratory studies that suggest a potential association between acetaminophen use during pregnancy," the FDA memo said "clinicians should consider minimizing" recommending the drug to pregnant people. Neither document said the drug should never be recommended for someone expecting a child.

Multiple physicians told AFP the research that has been performed on a potential connection between autism and acetaminophen during pregnancy did not provide enough evidence to establish a link.

Monique Botha, a psychologist at the University of Durham studying autism (archived here), told AFP "the most robust data we have to date" was a 2024 study assessing the prevalence of autism in 2.5 million Swedish children, which was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (archived here).

Contrary to Trump's claims, the study concluded that "acetaminophen use during pregnancy was not associated with children's risk of autism, ADHD, or intellectual disability."

Advising medical consultation for acetaminophen use during pregnancy is not new. In 2021, a group of experts reviewing data from multiple studies on adverse effects of taking the drug concluded that pregnant people should be informed that acetaminophen should be avoided unless its use is medically indicated (archived here).

Rod Mitchell, a professor of pediatric endocrinology at the University of Edinburgh and one of the authors of the analysis (archived here), told AFP that "paracetamol could affect the developing fetus, primarily in terms of future reproduction and fertility," explaining that the potential risks were not clearly established.

He said: "Overall, the available evidence does not suggest that paracetamol causes autism."

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Tylenol packages are seen in a pharmacy in Houston, Texas, on September 23, 2025 (AFP / RONALDO SCHEMIDT)

Contested evidence

Members of the Trump administration often cite a 2025 paper compiling the results of 40 studies that concluded there was a link between acetaminophen during pregnancy and autism (archived here and here).

Botha of the University of Durham said the analysis included many older studies which had methodological flaws, for example not considering whether children's parents were autistic themselves. This would be important considering how genetics factor into the appearance of autism (archive here).

The Coalition of Autism Scientists also stated in a response to the White House announcement that the paper did not take into account that fever during pregnancy -- which is often treated with acetaminophen -- can increase the risk of autism (archived here).

Steven Kapp, a senior lecturer in psychology at the University of Portsmouth and a member of the coalition (archived here), told the Science Media Center that "research claiming to find a link does not separate out correlation from causation" (archived here).

The FDA said in its memo that "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."

As with most drugs, acetaminophen carries the risk of overdose when taken in large amounts and physicians recommend seeking medical advice on when and how much to take during pregnancy (archived here and here).

Read more of AFP's reporting on health misinformation here.