PRESIDENT Donald Trump has claimed that taking Tylenol during pregnancy increases the risk of autism, despite trusted research saying the painkiller is safe.
He advised pregnant women to only take Tylenol, the brand name for the generic pain reliever acetaminophen, in the case of high fevers.
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Trump announced his administration’s findings on autism in the Oval Office on Monday afternoon after previously saying the complex developmental disorder was “out of control” in America.
“Taking Tylenol is not good,” he said.
Ahead of the expected announcement from the White House, the expert group Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine said Tylenol is “an appropriate medication to treat pain and fever during pregnancy.”
Untreated fevers during pregnancy can cause significant risks to moms and babies, including miscarriage and birth defects.
Studies showing a link between pregnant women taking acetaminophen, known in the UK and Europe as paracetamol, and autism have been inconclusive and unreliable.
Kenvue, the pharmaceutical company that manufactures Tylenol, has also denied the correlation.
The Federal Drug Administration has not found any “clear evidence” that appropriately using acetaminophen during pregnancy causes problems for pregnant people, according to their website.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has long recommended acetaminophen as a safe pain reliever during pregnancy.
Still, Trump said the FDA will advise pregnant women not to take Tylenol unless there’s no alternative.
“Ideally, you don’t take it at all,” Trump said.
He repeated multiple times, “Don’t take it!”
The president, flanked by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Dr. Mehmet Oz, said that the rise in autism in recent years has been “meteoric.”
“There’s never been anything like this,” Trump said.
He also said rather than taking a vaccine all at once, “like they’re pumping it into a horse,” children should instead take vaccines over five doses.
Trump’s Tylenol announcement explained by a doctor
President Donald Trump and his administration’s health experts strongly advised woman to avoid taking Tylenol during pregnancy, claiming it increases the risk of autism.
What does the report say?
- Trump announced on September 22, 2025, that the US Food and Drug Administration will be notifying physicians that the use of acetaminophen, commonly known as Tylenol, during pregnancy “can be associated with a very increased risk of autism.”
- However, Trump and his health experts, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the US Secretary of Health and Human Services, did not cite a scientific study.
How much is too much?
- Dr. Zaid Fadul, the chief executive officer for Bespoke Concierge MD, a nationwide concierge medical group, told The U.S. Sun that taking Tylenol “three or four times a day” over an extended period a time can raise concerns.
- “One Tylenol during pregnancy is unlikely to do anything,” Dr. Fadul said. “Very unlikely. But if you’re taking Tylenol three times a day or four times a day for the course of six months, I’m sure there’s going to be some negative effect.
- “The challenge here is trying to figure out what’s reasonable. It’s a moving target. Everybody’s different. People have different DNAs. People have different backgrounds. They have different underlying health conditions.”
What is an alternative to Tylenol?
- Dr. Fadul recommended staying hydrated as other alternatives to taking Tylenol when dealing with a high fever.
- “High fever is a huge metabolic load on the body. And so you get dehydrated quickly because your body is trying to maintain their core temperature,” Dr. Fadul said.
- “And so certain things that should be obvious, like maintaining hydration during fevers, can go a long way. A fever can feed back on itself. You start about you try to do evaporative cooling and your temperature starts to rise.
- “Then you use water to try and cool yourself off and you start getting dehydrated, which then further enhances the fever. So the tried and true things of staying hydrated always help, and using, I would even with my patients use cool towels and rags.”
- However, Dr. Fadul said the usage of Tylenol in severe situations is necessary.
- “Stil, to use Tylenol in that situation because of the patients having high fever, we have to control that fever. We don’t want pregnant women walking around with this. Where I would say to be careful is to keep using Tylenol excessively over the course of a week or two. That’s the take home message I have is be judicious.
- “If you need it, if you have a high fever, I’m not saying don’t do it. I do think you should talk to your OB about that and figure out why you have a fever and make sure you’re treating the underlying issue in the first place and try and mitigate with lifestyle temperatures.
- “If you’ve got a high fever, you shouldn’t be walking around in a sweater and thick clothes. These things, these small things add up over time. But I still think Tylenol is something that you can use during pregnancy. You just have to be careful how much you’re using. I think that’s the take home point here.”
What is the best advice for pregnant women?
- “Do not take medical advice from TikTok,” Dr. Fadul recommended.
- “The take home point here should be that you’re working with your OB closely, figuring out what the issues are, incorporating lifestyle modifications wherever you can, whether it’s helping with back pain from the pregnancy or helping control fevers and not relying on what your best friend did. It’s working closely with your doctor. Creating a tailored plan is always the best approach.”
Trump also demanded no mercury or aluminum in vaccines.
RFK said this is just the “first of many announcements” on the “underlying cause of autism” coming throughout Trump’s presidency.
Oz then announced that the Trump administration is issuing a prescription for Leucovorin, also known as folinic acid, to treat autistic children.
‘VERY BIG FACTOR’
On Sunday, Trump teased on stage at Charlie Kirk’s funeral that he would make an “amazing” and “historic” announcement about autism the next day.
He told reporters he believes the use of acetaminophen during pregnancy is a “very big factor” in the increased risk of autism.
Ahead of the announcement, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt urged Americans to have “open ears” and to “tone down the judgment.”
“I think women for many years have been confused by the rapid increase in autism,” Leavitt said, calling autism a “plague.”
Autism has no known single cause.
Research shows that genetics plays a large role in the neurodevelopmental condition.
Experts deny Trump’s claims
Doctors and scientists in the UK have panned President Donald Trump’s claims linking autism and Tylenol, known as paracetamol in Europe.
Dr. Monique Botha, associate professor in social and developmental psychology at Durham University, said: “There are many studies which refute a link, but the most important was a Swedish study of 2.4 million births published in 2024 which used actual sibling data and found no relationship between exposure to paracetamol in utero and subsequent autism, ADHD or intellectual disability.
“This suggests no causal effect of paracetamol in autism.”
Dr. Botha added: “There is no robust evidence or convincing studies to suggest there is any causal relationship, and any conclusions being drawn to the contrary are often motivated, under-evidenced, and unsupported by the most robust methods to answering this question.
“I am exceptionally confident in saying that no relationship exists.
“Similarly, pain relief for pregnant women is woefully lacking, and paracetamol is a much safer pain relief option during pregnancy than basically any other alternative, and we need to take pain seriously for women, including whilst pregnant.
“The fearmongering will prevent women from accessing the appropriate care during pregnancy.
“Further, it risks stigmatising families who have autistic children as having brought it on themselves and reinvigorates the long pattern of maternal shame and blame as we’ve seen re-emerge repeatedly over the last 70 years, where we try to place the fault of autism at the mother’s door one way or another.”
Dimitrios Siassakos, professor in obstetrics and gynaecology at University College London and honorary consultant in obstetrics at University College London Hospital (UCLH), said: “Autism results from several factors, often combined, particularly genetic predisposition, and sometimes low oxygen at the time of birth as a result of complications.
“Research has shown that any apparent marginal increase as a result of paracetamol/acetaminophen use in pregnancy tends to disappear when the analyses take into account the factors that matter most.
“For example, in studies looking at siblings, any association disappeared – it was the family history that mattered and not the use of paracetamol.
“Undue focus on paracetamol would risk preventing families from using one of the safest medications to use in pregnancy when needed.”
