At a White House press conference on Monday, Sep. 22, President Donald Trump and Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., claimed that acetaminophen, one of the main ingredients in the drug Tylenol, was responsible for causing autism.
Trump, Kennedy and the Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Marty Makary, stated that the drug leucovorin could be used to treat autism. The drug has not been heavily studied in treating autism and to date there has not yet been a significant finding within the research.
President Trump also urged pregnant women to “tough it out” and avoid taking Tylenol while pregnant. During the briefing, he did not mention statistics or cite medical organizations that were proponents of pregnant women avoiding tylenol usage during pregnancy and giving it to their babies post-birth.
The Trump Administration announced that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will be announcing 13 major grants through the Autism Data Science Initiative to identify all possible causes of autism, including toxic and pharmaceutical exposures.
“The FDA will issue a physician’s notice of the risk of using acetaminophen during pregnancy and begin the process to initiate a safety label change,” Kennedy stated.
Leucovorin, according to the Mayo Clinic, is a prescriptive medication that is used as an antidote to reduce effects of the high-dose cancer medication and also treat certain forms of anemia. The drug, which requires a prescription, is an adjusted form of vitamin B9 otherwise known as folate which is found within eggs, citrus, beans, and beets. Scientists are currently studying to determine how folate is involved in regard to autism and if a folate deficiency is a possible cause.
“They’ve never found a causative connection, like there’s no definitive connection. Just a pure association that’s been found,” Christine Amendola, department chairperson and clinical professor of the University’s College of Health Professions said.
In regards to taking tylenol, Amendola said “There’s so many pregnant people that have taken it because it has been found by science to be safe in pregnancy and it’s safe in babies. Tons of patients have taken it during their pregnancies, and in those pregnancies, some of them have resulted in babies with autism, and some haven’t.”
The conference raised the question of whether the claims of linking acetaminophen and autism were grounded in substantial scientific evidence. The issue is particularly concerning for both expecting parents and parents of children living with autism. Particularly, for Amendola as both a health sciences professional and a mother of a child living with autism.
“I have four children, and my Mikey, who is my autistic son, is a twin. I did the same thing for him and his sister, right? I did the exact same thing. They had no difference in how much Tylenol I took or how many vaccines they got and when they got them. Nothing was different for the two of them, but there was a different outcome,” Amendola stated.
For University students, concerns were also abound, including for Lily Lorentsson, a sophomore and Health Science major.
“It set off alarms for a lot of people. I think that they could have presented their findings, but not been like, ‘Don’t do this. Don’t take this, this is going to cause autism.’ Because it’s not going to cause autism,” Lorentsson said.
“Sure, maybe there is a correlation. I think that the information that they’re spreading isn’t useful information. I think that the only good that could come out of it is that we’re actually talking about the cause of autism, and so that could ignite more research behind it,” Lorentsson stated.
According to NIH studies from 2022, participants from the study highlighted the ongoing issues plaguing autism research such as continuing to have non-autistic researchers conduct research for the autism community. “Autism research is in crisis. Non-autistic people/researchers who have dedicated decades to studying autism are being pushed out of the field,” one of the survey participants said. However, others agree with the notion that there is not enough general research overall and the main focus should pertain to collecting as much analysis and data on autism.
“There needs to be more research done. There has to be better studies, more consistent studies, and studies that take out other confounding variables that we can’t tell what possibly caused that. And again, if we ever find a cause, right?” Amendola said.
Confusion continues to be a main factor when describing the state of the relationship between the health sciences community and autism. As debates and research continues on whether acetaminophen has a correlation to causing autism, possibly the new NIH grants and more research will provide the public with clarification on the matter.
