Obama attacks Trump's claims on painkiller's link to autism

Barack Obama says Donald Trump’s claims linking paracetamol to autism in infants could harm pregnant women if they became too scared to take pain relief. Speaking in London, the former US president said Trump’s claims about paracetamol - branded as Tylenol in the US - were “violence against the truth”.

- Lanre Bakare

“We have the spectacle of my successor in the Oval Office making broad claims around certain drugs and autism that have been continuously disproved,” he said in an interview with the historian David Olusoga. “It undermines public health... that can do harm to women.”

On Monday Trump said: “Taking Tylenol is not good ... All pregnant women should talk to their doctors about limiting the use of this medication while pregnant.”

His comments were criticised by the health secretary, Wes Streeting, who encouraged women to ignore the president’s advice.