It all started with an unfounded warning that taking Tylenol during pregnancy could increase the risk of autism in children. 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 this common painkiller.
“Don’t give it to the baby when it’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 are given Tylenol.”
As the Administration’s stance on the drug has expanded in recent weeks, researchers say the idea 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 early childhood Tylenol and autism than that Tylenol ingested 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 scientists who research autism say the data do not support a causal relationship with the condition. When it comes to young children, the American Academy of Pediatrics states that Tylenol is safe when taken correctly under the supervision of a pediatrician. According to this group, the drug should not be given to children younger than 12 weeks unless recommended by a doctor, as Tylenol can mask fever or early signs of sepsis, which require immediate medical attention.
(Without offering new evidence, Trump links acetaminophen use in pregnancy to autism despite no scientific evidence)
Trump and Kennedy’s first announcement about Tylenol and autism came on September 22, when they unveiled regulatory measures to limit the drug’s use during pregnancy. Although Trump warned pregnant women to “fight tooth and nail not to take it,” the actual changes in policy were more moderate.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a letter asking doctors to “consider minimizing the use of acetaminophen during pregnancy to treat routine mild fevers.” (Acetaminophen is the active ingredient in Tylenol.)
However, the FDA acknowledged 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 these warnings on several occasions, which represents a significant leap 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.”
Kennedy, for his part, reaffirmed his statement on circumcision in a post on X on Friday, saying that “the observed correlation between autism and circumcised boys is best explained by exposure to acetaminophen.”
(What science says about acetaminophen, pregnant women and autism)
Joshua Gordon, chair of the department of psychiatry at Columbia University, said the snowballing warnings about Tylenol represent a common tactic among those seeking to attribute autism to vaccines or medications.
“Robert F. Kennedy and his colleagues start by asking a question, and when the scientific community answers that question, they modify it slightly to prolong, so to speak, the debate on the topic,” Gordon said.
He noted how the anti-vaccine community initially raised concerns about the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine in relation to autism, and then moved to focus on a mercury-based preservative in vaccines and the cumulative number of vaccines administered during childhood. (All of these concerns have been debunked.)
“No amount of scientific evidence can be conclusive for this community,” Gordon said. “The debate is like a hydra. If you cut off one head, they will try to re-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 follow FDA guidelines, including long-standing guidelines on the proper use and dosage of acetaminophen in young children.”
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A spokesperson for Kenvue, the maker of Tylenol, said the drug is “one of the most studied pain relievers and antipyretics 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 scientific studies clearly demonstrate 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 young children with autism were significantly more likely to take acetaminophen for fever compared to children without the disorder.
Mandell said the study had limitations: Dads 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 on However, 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 that supposed effect to Tylenol.
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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 usual practice is to inject an anesthetic medication.
He added that in other situations, Tylenol is a useful tool to reduce fever or pain. “You should not let the child suffer if it is obvious that he or she is uncomfortable,” Jones-Jobst said.
