It began with an unsubstantiated warning that taking Tylenol during pregnancy could increase a child’s risk of autism. But the message from President Donald Trump and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appears to have quickly expanded to suggest that babies and young children should avoid the common painkiller.
“Don’t give it to the baby when he’s born,” Trump said of Tylenol at a Cabinet meeting Thursday.
Kennedy chimed in to suggest that circumcised boys have higher rates of autism, “probably because they’re given Tylenol.”
As the administration’s stance on the drug has expanded in recent weeks, researchers say the notion that young children could develop autism as a result of taking Tylenol is particularly far-fetched.
“There is even less evidence that there is a link between Tylenol in early childhood and autism than that Tylenol taken during pregnancy causes autism,” said David Mandell, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania.
Most scientific evidence suggests that moderate use of Tylenol is safe during pregnancy, and many autism researchers say the data do not support a causal link to autism. When it comes to young children, the American Academy of Pediatrics says Tylenol is safe when taken correctly under the supervision of a pediatrician. The drug should not be given to children younger than 12 weeks, the group says, unless a doctor recommends it, as Tylenol can mask fevers or early signs of sepsis, which require immediate medical attention.
Trump and Kennedy’s first announcement about Tylenol and autism came on September 22, when they unveiled regulatory actions to limit the medication’s use during pregnancy. Although Trump warned pregnant women to “fight like hell not to take it,” the actual policy changes were more moderate. The Food and Drug Administration issued a letter asking doctors to “consider minimizing acetaminophen use during pregnancy for routine mild fevers.” (Acetaminophen is the active ingredient in Tylenol.)
The FDA acknowledged, however, that Tylenol is the safest over-the-counter pain reliever during pregnancy and that “a causal relationship has not been established” with autism.
The agency did not mention risks to children. However, both Kennedy and Trump have repeated such warnings on several occasions, a significant jump from the FDA’s message.
In a post on Truth Social two weeks ago, Trump wrote that young children should not take Tylenol for “virtually any reason.”
Meanwhile, Kennedy doubled down on his claim about circumcision in a post on X on Friday, saying that “the observed correlation with autism in circumcised boys is best explained by acetaminophen exposure.”
Dr. Joshua Gordon, chairman of the department of psychiatry at Columbia University, said the growing warnings about Tylenol represent a common tactic among those seeking to attribute autism to vaccines or medications.
“Robert F. Kennedy and his colleagues will start by asking a question, and when the scientific community answers that question, they will modify it slightly to prolong, so to speak, the debate on the topic,” Gordon said.
He noted the way the anti-vaccine community first raised concerns about the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine in relation to autism, and then pivoted to focus on a mercury-based preservative in vaccines and the cumulative number of vaccines administered in childhood. (Each of these concerns has been debunked.)
“No amount of scientific evidence can be conclusive for this community,” Gordon said. “Debate is like a hydra. You cut off one head and they will just try to emerge with another.”
The Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to a request for comment.
White House spokesman Kush Desai said that “the president is right to express his common-sense view that Americans should use caution with all medications and adhere to FDA guidelines, including long-standing guidelines on the proper use and dosage of acetaminophen in young children.”
A spokesperson for Kenvue, the maker of Tylenol, said the medication is “one of the most studied pain relievers and fever reducers in infants and children, and numerous randomized controlled clinical trials support the safety of acetaminophen in infants and children when used as directed.”
The spokesperson added that “robust, independent science clearly shows that taking paracetamol does not cause autism.”
Mandell said claims that Tylenol increases autism rates in infants and toddlers are based on low-quality studies that do not prove causality.
He pointed to a small study that found that younger children with autism were significantly more likely to take acetaminophen for fever compared to children without the disorder. Mandell said the study had limitations: Parents had to remember how often they gave their children acetaminophen, and children with autism are more likely to feel discomfort, which may lead their parents to give them acetaminophen more frequently.
One scientist in particular, immunologist William Parker, has pushed the theory that autism can be attributed to paracetamol use in babies and young children. In his post about X, Kennedy cited an article by Parker that says there is “overwhelming evidence” that acetaminophen triggers autism. But the article has not been peer-reviewed or published in a scientific journal.
Kennedy also mentioned a 2015 Danish study that concluded that circumcised boys may be at increased risk of developing autism. But the study authors said they could not attribute the supposed effect to Tylenol.
Dr. Sian Jones-Jobst, a pediatrician and president of Complete Children’s Health, a pediatric network in Lincoln, Nebraska, said very few pediatricians administer Tylenol for circumcisions; instead, the common practice is to inject an anesthetic medication.
He added that in other situations, Tylenol is a useful tool to reduce fever or pain.
“You shouldn’t let your child suffer if they are obviously uncomfortable,” Jones-Jobst said.
