Unsurprisingly, few people are buying President Donald Trump’s claim that acetaminophen, also known by the brand name Tylenol, causes autism.
Medical experts, health agencies, and nations around the globe are soundly rejecting the primary conclusion reached by Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services earlier this week—that women taking acetaminophen during pregnancy are clearly raising the risk of their children developing autism. Just this morning, the World Health Organization became the latest to formally weigh in and offer a firm rebuttal.
“Extensive research has been undertaken over the past decade, including large-scale studies, looking into links between acetaminophen use during pregnancy and autism. At this time, no consistent association has been established,” the WHO noted in its statement.
Alone in the corner
Countries began to distance themselves from the U.S. even before Trump’s big autism announcement was made late Monday afternoon (media outlets correctly reported its contents nearly a month ago).
The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (its version of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration) issued a statement earlier that Monday reassuring its residents that there was no conclusive evidence of a causative link between autism and paracetamol use.
Health regulators and medical organizations, particularly gynecological groups, in other countries have since echoed the same sentiment, including Australia, South Africa, and the entire European Union.
Online, some people were bemused by the realization that Trump was referring to a drug known as paracetamol, the common name for acetaminophen used pretty much everywhere except the U.S. and Canada.
Just to explain how wild this is to Europeans, Australians, South Asians, and South Africans. He’s talking about Paracetamol. https://t.co/ALrjtJwjPP
— Del (@TheCartelDel) September 22, 2025
Of course, there has also been plenty of homegrown resistance, too. The Coalition of Autism Scientists, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the Autism Society of America were some of the groups to strongly oppose Trump’s scapegoating of acetaminophen, while the American Academy of Pediatrics also called out his and RFK Jr.’s ongoing attempts to blame vaccines for autism during the White House announcement.
Real harm
Unfortunately, as reassuring and cathartic as all this might be, Trump’s announcement is still likely to have a negative impact on women’s health.
As part of Trump’s plan, the FDA has been tasked with formally attaching a safety label to acetaminophen products warning of its supposed autism risk, while HHS will waste resources on a public health campaign. So it’s likely that at least some expectant mothers will now forego taking the drug when they experience pain and fever.
As Trump himself pointed out during the announcement, there are no other safe over-the-counter alternative painkillers for women to take during pregnancy. These symptoms aren’t just an annoyance either; experts note that a mother’s untreated fever and pain can absolutely be dangerous to fetal health, and fever in particular may even raise the risk of future neurodevelopmental disorders like autism.
Most of the world may thankfully ignore Trump’s advice on Tylenol, but he could cause real harm to the women in America who do decide to follow it.
