International well being businesses and regulators have dismissed unscientific recommendation from Donald Trump that made an unproven hyperlink between autism and using on a regular basis painkillers and vaccines.
In an indication of how frightened overseas governments are concerning the US president’s feedback, the well being secretary of the UK, which is one the US’s closest allies, told the British public they need to not “pay any consideration in any way to what Donald Trump says about drugs”.
On Monday, Trump told pregnant women to keep away from taking acetaminophen, which is offered within the US as Tylenol and identified internationally as paracetamol, including that those that couldn’t “powerful it out” ought to restrict their consumption.
He additionally mentioned – in feedback that danger exposing youngsters to deadly ailments – that folks of younger youngsters ought to delay or keep away from some vaccines. “Don’t allow them to pump your child up with the biggest pile of stuff you’ve ever seen in your life,” he mentioned.
The World Health Group mentioned on Tuesday that questioning the worth of lifesaving vaccines was misguided and that evidence linking paracetamol use in being pregnant and autism was “inconsistent”.
“We all know that vaccines don’t trigger autism,” mentioned the WHO spokesperson Tarik Jašarević. “Vaccines, as I mentioned, save numerous lives. So that is one thing that science has confirmed, and this stuff shouldn’t be actually questioned.”
Wes Streeting, the UK well being secretary, was much more direct in his criticism, telling ITV: “I belief docs over President Trump, frankly, on this. I’ve simply acquired to be actually clear about this: there isn’t any proof to hyperlink using paracetamol by pregnant ladies to autism of their youngsters. None.
“So I’d simply say to individuals watching: don’t pay any consideration in any way to what Donald Trump says about drugs. In reality, don’t take even take my phrase for it, as a politician – take heed to British docs, British scientists, the [National Health Service].”
Hours after Trump made his feedback, the MHRA, the UK’s healthcare regulator, launched an announcement saying there was no proof linking paracetamol use throughout being pregnant with autism.
Dr Alison Cave, chief security officer on the company, warned that “untreated ache and fever can pose dangers to the unborn child” and it was essential to handle these signs with beneficial therapies.
The European Medicines Company additionally caught by its pointers. The EU company’s chief medical officer, Steffen Thirstrup, mentioned its recommendation was “primarily based on a rigorous evaluation of the accessible scientific information and we’ve discovered no proof that taking paracetamol throughout being pregnant causes autism in youngsters”. When requested, an EU fee spokesperson referred to the EMA findings.
The Therapeutic Items Administration, the medicines regulator in Australia, confirmed paracetamol was protected to be used in being pregnant and rejected the hyperlink to neurodevelopmental circumstances.
It issued an announcement saying it could “be a part of with different global medicines regulators, main clinicians and scientists worldwide in rejecting claims relating to using paracetamol in being pregnant, and the next danger of improvement of ADHD or autism in youngsters”.
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Trump made his announcement alongside his well being secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, who has a document of making unproven claims about autism and different conspiracy theories linked to well being and vaccines.
Earlier this 12 months, Kennedy pledged to find out the “trigger” of autism and announce the findings this month. Monday’s press convention seems to be an effort to offer outcomes on the deadline Kennedy set himself, though he failed to offer any new info backed by science.
Specialists say that discovering the underlying elements of a posh syndrome that has been studied for many years was unrealistic.
Autism diagnoses have been rising. One in 31 youngsters aged eight had a prognosis of autism spectrum dysfunction within the US in 2022, based on the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention. That compares with about one in 150 in 2000.
Medical doctors consider there are two principal causes for the rise, and neither pertains to vaccines or treatment. First, the definition of autism has broadened. Second, mother and father have more and more sought a prognosis of autism, which has turn out to be higher identified publicly.
In its evaluation, the White House appears to be relying on a 2025 review of 46 earlier studies that instructed an affiliation between prenatal paracetamol publicity and an elevated likelihood of neurodevelopmental issues. Critically, these researchers mentioned the research didn’t show the drug brought about the outcomes and suggested that pregnant ladies ought to proceed to make use of acetaminophen on the lowest doable dose and for the shortest doable interval.
Well being specialists have pointed as an alternative to a large Swedish study revealed in 2024, which tracked 2.4 million births and located no proof of an affiliation between prenatal publicity to the drug and autism.
