Experts debunk claim of paracetamol-autism link

Many doctors and scientists were reeling after President Donald Trump went on TV to insist that pregnant women should never take Tylenol, the brand name for paracetamol in the US, and revive debunked theories about vaccines and autism.

- Associated Press

Trump went beyond his own Food and Drug Administration's more modest advice that doctors "should consider minimising" the painkiller acetaminophen's use in pregnancy amid inconclusive evidence about whether too much could be linked to autism. His comments came as the administration also moved to make more available a possible but unproven autism treatment — and also announced more research into the disorder.

Dr Steven Fleischman, president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, worried that the Tylenol claims would terrify mothers-to-be and parents of children with autism.

"I don't want you going back and looking and saying to yourself, 'I shouldn't have done this, I shouldn't have done that. It's nothing you did. It really is not,'" he said. "Not treating the fever probably has more adverse effects that you need to worry about than taking the medication."

Acetaminophen is the name of the drug prevalent in the US and Japan, while Europe and rest of the world, including India, know it as paracetamol.

As for vaccines, "studies have repeatedly found no credible link between lifesaving childhood vaccines and autism," said American Academy of Pediatrics president Dr. Susan Kressly. "Any effort to misrepresent sound, strong science poses a threat to the health of children."

Here's what we know about autism and the Trump administration's new steps to address it.