By Michael Hernandez
WASHINGTON (AA) - US President Donald Trump alleged Monday that the use of acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, during pregnancy greatly increases the likelihood that a child will develop autism.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is now slated to notify physicians that the use of acetaminophen "can be associated with a very increased risk of autism," Trump told reporters at the White House.
"Taking Tylenol is not good. I'll say it, it's not good. For this reason, they are strongly recommending that women limit Tylenol use during pregnancy unless medically necessary," Trump said, flanked by senior health officials, including Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr, and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Mehmet Oz.
Tylenol is widely considered the only safe medicine to treat fevers in pregnant women, a fact acknowledged by the president, and it is not clear what Trump is basing the link to autism on.
"If you can't live, if your fever is so bad, you have to take one because there's no alternative to that, sadly, first question, what can you take instead? It's actually, there's not an alternative to that," he said.
Experts have long been skeptical about the purported causal link between Tylenol and autism. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) issued a statement as Trump was speaking, denying any links.
"ACOG reaffirms the safety and benefits of acetaminophen use during pregnancy. More than two decades of research have found no causal link between acetaminophen use during pregnancy and autism, ADHD, or intellectual disability in children," it said.
"Acetaminophen continues to be an important and safe option for managing pain and fever in pregnancy—conditions that can pose serious risks to pregnant patients and their fetuses if left untreated," it added.
Kennedy said the FDA will soon approve Leucovorin, a drug that is currently used as part of a chemotherapy regimen, to treat the symptoms of autism. FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said the drug "will bypass" a "blocked" folic acid receptor.
"The FDA will be updating the label of an existing drug to reflect potential benefits in reducing some autism symptoms. This gives hope to the many parents with autistic children that it may be possible to improve their lives," he said.
Trump also alleged a link between the traditional vaccine schedule and autism, urging parents to space out the administration of the shots in children.
"There's no downside to going over a four-year or five-year period or a three-year period, or even if you space them out for six months, you space it out. There's no downside," he claimed.
"I will say the gentlemen behind me, they have very strong views, and they feel that we're right, but they'll have more research done over the next two months. I said, ‘Well, two months is a long time.’ A lot of people could be saved, and there's no downside to doing it. Everything I said, there's no downside to doing it. It can only be good," he said.