Anti-Vaccine Groups Melt Down Over Rfk Jr. Linking Autism to Tylenol

Meanwhile the other partisans are insisting that the paracetamol claim is junk science. The whole episode is ridiculous. I get the sense that if RFK linked lung cancer to smoking, the same appeals to tradition would be used by the opposition.

I remember hearing the claim that paracetamol wouldn't be approved under current standards decades ago. Wasn't sure about that, but I generally avoid tablets of all kinds. It wasn't especially relevant for me then or now.

https://www.fda.gov/media/188843/download?attachment

>Notice to Physicians on the Use of Acetaminophen During Pregnancy

> The association is an ongoing area of scientific debate and clinicians should be aware of the issue in their clinical decision-making, especially given that most short-term fevers in pregnant women and young children do not require medication.

>In the spirit of patient safety and prudent medicine, clinicians should consider minimizing the use of acetaminophen during pregnancy for routine low-grade fevers. This consideration should also be balanced with the fact that acetaminophen is the safest over-the-counter alternative in pregnancy among all analgesics and antipyretics; aspirin and ibuprofen have well-documented adverse impacts on the fetus

This is not entirely true. Several large observational studies show a statistically significant (but small absolute) difference in rates of neurodevelopmental disorders including autism among children with and without maternal acetaminophen exposure. See this meta-analysis [0].

Now, the actions taken by this administration and what they are claiming about the evidence are a different matter altogether. Cause and effect are far from determined in the acetaminophen/autism relationship. But informational accuracy is not known to be the interest of Trump and RFK Jr.

[0] https://ehjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12940-...