AUTISM

This week, the Trump administration announced that it was taking “bold action” to address the “epidemic” of autism spectrum disorder — starting with a new safety label on Tylenol and other acetaminophen products that suggests a link to autism. The scientific evidence for doing so is weak, researchers said.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said federal officials “will be uncompromising and relentless in our search for answers” and that they soon would be “closely examining” the role of vaccines, whose alleged link to autism has been widely discredited.

Kennedy has long argued that rising diagnoses among U.S. children must mean more exposure to some outside influence: a drug, a chemical, a toxin, a vaccine.

“One of the things that I think that we need to move away from today is this ideology that … the autism prevalence increase, the relentless increases, are simply artifacts of better diagnoses, better recognition or changing diagnostic criteria,” Kennedy said in April.

Kennedy is correct that autism spectrum disorder rates have risen steadily in the U.S. since the U.S. Centers for Disease Control began tracking them, from 1 in 150 8-year-olds in 2000, to 1 in 31 in 2022, the most recent year for which numbers are available.

But physicians, researchers and psychologists say it is impossible to interpret this increase without acknowledging two essential facts: The diagnostic definition of autism has greatly expanded to include a much broader range of human behaviors, and we look for it more often than we used to.

“People haven’t changed that much,” said Alan Gerber, a pediatric neuropsychologist at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., “but how we talk about them, how we describe them, how we categorize them has actually changed a lot over the years.”

Defining ‘autism’

The term “autism” first appeared in the scientific literature around World War II, when two psychiatrists in different countries independently chose that word to describe two different groups of children.

In 1938, Austrian pediatrician Hans Asperger used it to describe child patients at his Vienna clinic who were verbal, often fluently so, with unusual social behaviors and at-times obsessive focus on very specific subjects.

Five years later, U.S. psychiatrist Leo Kanner published a paper about a group of children at his clinic at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore who were socially withdrawn, rigid in their thinking and extremely sensitive to stimuli like bright lights or loud noises. Most also had limited verbal language ability.

Both Asperger and Kanner chose the same word to describe these overlapping behaviors: autism. (They borrowed the term from an earlier psychiatrist’s description of extreme social withdrawal in schizophrenic patients.)

This doesn’t mean children never acted this way before. It was just the first time doctors started using that word to describe a particular set of child behaviors.

For the next few decades, many children who exhibited what we understand today to be autistic traits were labeled as having conditions that have ceased to exist as formal diagnoses, like “mental retardation,” “childhood psychosis” or “schizophrenia, childhood type.”

Autism debuted as its own diagnosis in the 1980 third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the American Psychiatric Assn.’s diagnostic bible. It described an autistic child as one who, by the age of 2½, showed impaired communication, unusual responses to their environment and a lack of interest in other people.

As the decades went on, the DSM definition of autism broadened.

The fourth edition, published in 1994, named additional behaviors: impaired relationships, struggles with nonverbal communication and speech patterns different from those of non-autistic, or neurotypical, peers.

It also included a typo that would turn out to be a crucial driver of diagnoses, wrote cultural anthropologist Roy Richard Grinker in his book “Unstrange Minds: Remapping the World of Autism.”

The DSM’s printed definition of autism included any child who displayed impairments in social interaction, communication “or” behavior. It was supposed to say social interaction, communication “and” behavior.

The error went uncorrected for six years, and the impact appeared profound. In 1995 an estimated 1 in every 500 children was diagnosed with autism. By 2000, when the CDC formally began tracking diagnoses (and the text was corrected), it was 1 in every 150.

Reaching underserved communities

In 2007, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended for the first time that all children be screened for autism between the ages of 18 and 24 months as part of their regular checkups. Prior to that, autism was diagnosed somewhat haphazardly. Not all pediatricians were familiar with the earliest indicators or used the same criteria to determine whether a child should be further evaluated.

Then in 2013, the fifth edition of the DSM took what had previously been four separate conditions — autistic disorder, Asperger’s disorder, childhood disintegrative disorder and pervasive developmental disorder — and collapsed them all into a single diagnosis: autism spectrum disorder.

The diagnostic criteria for ASD included a broad range of social, communication and sensory interpretation differences that, crucially, could be identified at any time in a child’s life. The term was no longer limited only to children whose development lagged noticeably behind that of their peers.

Since that definition was adopted, U.S. schools have become more proactive about referring a greater range of children for neurodevelopmental evaluations. The new DSM language also helped educators and clinicians better understand what was keeping some kids in disadvantaged communities from thriving.

“In the past, [autism was] referred to as a ‘white child’s disability,’ because you found so few Black and brown children being identified,” said Shanter Alexander, an assistant professor of school psychology at Howard University. Children of color who struggled with things like behavioral disruptions, attention deficits or language delays, she said, were often diagnosed with intellectual disabilities or behavioral disorders.

In a sign that things have shifted, the most recent CDC survey for the first time found a higher prevalence of autism in kids of color than in white children: 3.66%, 3.82% and 3.30% for Black, Asian and Latino children, respectively, compared with 2.77% of white children.

“A lot of people think, ‘Oh, no, what does this mean? This is terrible.’ But it’s actually really positive. It means that we have been better at diagnosing Latino children [and] other groups too,” said Kristina Lopez, an associate professor at Arizona State University who studies autism in underserved communities.

The severity issue

An autism diagnosis today can apply to people who are able to graduate from college, hold professional positions and speak eloquently about their autism, as well as people who require 24-hour care and are not able to speak at all.

It includes people who were diagnosed when they were toddlers developing at a noticeably different pace from their peers, and people who embraced a diagnosis of autism in adulthood as the best description of how they relate to the world. Diagnoses for U.S. adults ages 26 to 34 alone increased by 450% between 2011 and 2022, according to one large study published last year in the Journal of the American Medical Assn.

Kennedy was not correct when he said in April that “most cases now are severe.”

A 2016 review of CDC data found that approximately 26.7% of 8-year-olds with autism had what some advocates refer to as “profound autism,” the end of the spectrum that often includes seriously disabling behaviors such as seizures, self-injurious behavior and intellectual disability.

The rate of children with profound autism has remained virtually unchanged since the CDC started tracking it, said Maureen Durkin, a professor of population health science and pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Indeed, the highest rate of new diagnoses has been among children with mild limitations, she said.

For many researchers and advocates, the Trump administration’s focus on autism has provoked mixed emotions. Many have lobbied for years for more attention for this condition and the people whose lives it affects.

Now it has arrived, thanks to an administration that has played up false information while cutting support for science.

“They have attempted to panic the public with the notion of an autism epidemic as a threat to the nation, when no such epidemic actually exists — rather, more people are being diagnosed with autism today because we have broader diagnostic criteria and do a better job detecting it,” said Colin Killick, executive director of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network. “It is high time that this administration stops spreading misinformation about autism, and starts enacting policies that would actually benefit our community.”

This article was reported with the support of the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism’s National Fellowship’s Kristy Hammam Fund for Health Journalism.

Sept. 23 (UPI) — Oklahoma’s public schools chief Ryan Walters said Tuesday that every high school in the state will have a chapter of Turning Point USA, the organization co-founded by slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Walters, the state’s superintendent of public instruction, announced the partnership with the national conservative student group in a video posted to X, saying it would counter what he called the classroom dominance of “radical leftists” and teachers unions who “push woke indoctrination on our kids.'”

After the shooting of Kirk on a Utah college campus earlier this month, conservative politicians and media figures celebrated his influence with the nation’s youth and pledged to uphold his legacy. Walters’ announcement indicates a willingness to use the state’s public education system to advance Turning Point USA, but offered little detail on what that would mean.

“What we’re going to continue to do is make sure that our kids understand American greatness, engage in civic dialog and have that open discussion,” he said.

Starting a chapter of Turning Point USA at a private or public high school, as well as a home school, requires three students to serve as leaders and to sign a charter agreement, according to the national group’s website. The local chapter has to organize one activism initiative each semester and remain in good standing with a Turning Point USA field representative.

A press release from the state Department of Education states that chapters will receive support from the national organization, including “activism kits” with pins, pocket Constitutions, handbooks and other materials. The press release does not explain what the state will do to make sure students on every high school campus follows through.

John Croisant, a board member for Tulsa Public Schools and Democratic candidate for Congress, told KGOU that while students are able to form clubs, his district would not be “pushing political organizations within our schools.”

The department is investigating a dozen school districts that did not observe a moment of silence to honor Kirk, reported KOCO 5 News. Those districts told the station they were not aware of investigations.

Walters enacted a policy earlier this year requiring teachers from New York and California to pass tests showing they are not “woke indoctrinators.” He also supported a requirement that public schools teach the Bible.

President Donald Trump has urged pregnant women to avoid taking Tylenol, pointing to an unproven claim that links the painkiller to autism.

Speaking from the Oval Office with Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, Trump claimed that acetaminophen, the main ingredient in Tylenol – also known as paracetamol in most parts of the world –  was “no good” and should only be used in pregnancy when there’s a high fever.

He then outlined steps his administration would take to restrict the use of the drug during pregnancy, in comments laced with unproven – and, in some cases, false – claims.

Here is what he said, and what the facts say, about the drug, autism and whether Cuba, as Trump claimed at one point, does not have autism.

What did Trump announce?

Trump opened the event by calling autism a “horrible, horrible crisis”.

“The meteoric rise in autism is among the most alarming public health developments in history. There’s never been anything like this,” Trump said, even though experts point out that the data on autism only captures increased diagnoses – not necessarily a rise in the incidence of autism itself.

Trump then laid out his administration’s plans to tackle the “crisis”.

“First, effective immediately, the FDA will be notifying physicians that the use of a – well, let’s see how we say that acetaminophen – is that OK? Which is basically commonly known as Tylenol during pregnancy, can be associated with a very increased risk of autism,” he said.

He went on to warn that Tylenol use during pregnancy should be avoided unless absolutely necessary.

“So taking Tylenol is not good. All right. 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. That’s, for instance, in cases of extremely high fever, that you feel you can’t tough it out. You can’t do it. I guess there’s that.”

Trump then shifted to his broader concerns about vaccines, arguing against combination shots – like the MMR vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella – even though they have been proven to be safe in multiple rounds of research.

He also questioned giving newborns the hepatitis B vaccine.

“Hepatitis B is sexually transmitted. There’s no reason to give a baby that’s almost just born, hepatitis B. So I would say, wait till the baby is 12 years old and formed and take hepatitis B.”

Finally, Trump repeated a claim that countries without Tylenol, like Cuba, have little or no autism – framing it as evidence.

“I mean, there’s a rumour, and I don’t know if it’s so or not, that Cuba, they don’t have Tylenol because they don’t have the money for Tylenol. And they have virtually no autism, OK. Tell me about that one.”

President Donald J. Trump, @SecKennedy, @DrOzCMS, @NIHDirector_Jay, & @DrMakaryFDA announce the Autism Action Plan.

Make America Healthy Again. pic.twitter.com/1inEvIecYU

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 22, 2025

As with Trump’s other claims at the event, his assertion about Cuba doesn’t stand up to scrutiny – as we’ll get to in a bit.

But first …

What is autism?

Autism, or autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a developmental condition that’s experienced by people in many different ways. In the United States, it’s recognised as a form of neurodivergence and disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), autism can shape how someone communicates, learns, and interacts with the world, often in ways that are simply different from most people.

Children diagnosed with autism can also have difficulties with social, emotional and communication skills. This can develop into traits that can affect interaction with others and difficulty in learning.

What causes autism?

Autism has been linked to a complex mix of genetic and developmental factors, and it looks different for every individual. Scientists have identified hundreds of genes that can play a role, either passed down from parents or appearing as new mutations during early brain development.

According to the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, certain environmental influences may increase autism risk, including:

• Advanced parental age
• Prenatal exposure to air pollution or certain pesticides
• Maternal obesity, diabetes or immune system disorders
• Extreme prematurity or very low birth weight
• Birth complications leading to periods of oxygen deprivation to the baby’s brain.

Is autism on the rise in the US?

At first look, that’s what the numbers would suggest.

Figures from the CDC show that in 2022, 1 in 31 eight-year-old children were identified with autism in the US, up from 1 in 149 in 2000.

According to the CDC, the condition is also about three times more common in boys than in girls.

Globally, estimates vary. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported in 2021 that about 1 in 127 people worldwide were living with autism. Similarly, a 2022 review of 71 studies found an average prevalence of about 1 percent.

These numbers have been cited by some, like supporters of US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, to argue that the US faces a particularly acute challenge with autism, and have been used to justify crackdowns on drugs like Tylenol.

But experts warn that the data might not necessarily agree with these assertions and the measures that the Trump administration is taking.

Why are the numbers going up?

First, say experts, comparing autism rates across countries is problematic because of differences in diagnostic practices, awareness and access to healthcare – all of which affect how prevalence is measured and reported.

The increased numbers in the US, they point out, only demonstrate a sharp rise in diagnoses – not necessarily a rise in the incidence of autism itself.

According to experts, there are two main factors behind the rise in autism diagnoses. First, the definition of autism has broadened as scientists have recognised its wide spectrum of traits and symptoms. This has led to updated diagnostic criteria and better screening tools.

At the same time, growing awareness has meant that more parents are seeking evaluations.

What about acetaminophen?

Acetaminophen (also known as paracetamol) is one of the most widely used over-the-counter pain relievers and fever reducers.

For more than a decade, researchers have studied whether acetaminophen use during pregnancy is linked to developmental disorders. Findings have been mixed: Some studies reported associations with autism, while a 2025 Mount Sinai review suggested evidence for broader neurodevelopmental risks.

But association is not the same as causation. The largest and most rigorous study to date, published in 2024, found no link between prenatal acetaminophen use and autism, ADHD, or other learning or developmental disorders. Experts note that the best-quality studies so far show no evidence of harm from acetaminophen.

According to the Autism Science Foundation, claims of a connection remain “limited, conflicting, and inconsistent”.

“The big reveal about autism was a total bust full of misinformation,” Arthur L Caplan, an American ethicist and professor of bioethics at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, told Al Jazeera.

“There is no data to show Tylenol causes autism and lots of data to show that fever in pregnant women harms the fetus,” he added.

To be sure, even without a Tylenol-autism link, most doctors “will probably tell pregnant women they should always be careful about medication”, Catherine Lord, a professor of psychiatry at UCLA who specialises in autism, told Al Jazeera.

But those doctors will likely also caution women not to avoid taking medicines when they have a fever during pregnancy, she said. “They also need to realise that having a high fever or being in pain is not good for a growing baby, either, so they should consult their doctor,” she added.

Have there been other claims about what causes autism?

Over the years, autism has been wrongly linked to many supposed causes. The most notorious was the false vaccine-autism link from a 1998 study, now fully debunked. That study claimed an association between the MMR vaccine – the same one that Trump targeted on Monday – and autism. The Lancet, the highly respected British journal that published that study, retracted it 12 years later, in 2010.

Other debated factors include prenatal medications or antidepressants, environmental toxins, and diet, but the evidence is weak or inconsistent. Earlier, the discredited “refrigerator mother” theory blamed parents who were perceived to lack adequate emotional warmth with their children for higher risks of autism.

And finally, is it true, as Trump claims, that autism does not exist in Cuba?

It’s untrue – and if anything, Cuba undercuts Trump’s argument.

Cuba officially recognises autism spectrum disorder (ASD). There are multiple specialised schools and paediatric clinics that provide diagnosis and therapy for children with autism.

In Cuba, acetaminophen is generally known as paracetamol and is sold in government pharmacies. In other words, it is very much available and used as in other parts of the world.

According to a 2022 study, Cuba had an autism incidence of about 2 to 4 per 10,000 children in some settings. While research on autism diagnoses in Cuba is much more limited than in the US, the data from the 2022 study shows a far lower rate of recognised cases than in the US – despite the presence of acetaminophen.

United States President Donald Trump has urged pregnant women to avoid Tylenol, the brand name for paracetamol, over the painkiller’s unproven links to autism, prompting a swift backlash from doctors and scientists.

Trump issued the warning on Monday as the US drug regulator announced plans to add a label to paracetamol warning of an increased risk of autism and ADHD in children.

“Don’t take Tylenol. Don’t take it,” Trump said during a news conference at the White House while flanked by top public health officials.

“Fight like hell not to take it,” Trump said.

“There may be a point where you have to, and that you’ll have to work out with yourself.”

Trump also cast doubt on the medical consensus on childhood vaccines, suggesting that inoculations for measles, mumps and rubella should be administered separately instead of in the combined MMR shot.

“This is based on what I feel. The mumps, measles – the three should be taken separately,” Trump said.

“And it seems to be that when you mix them, there could be a problem.”

Trump’s comments drew condemnation from medical bodies, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG), which have long recommended paracetamol as one of the few painkillers that is safe for women during pregnancy.

About half of pregnant women worldwide are estimated to take paracetamol – which is sold in different countries under brand names including Dyman, Panadol and Panamax – for pain relief and to reduce fevers, which can be potentially dangerous to both the foetus and the expectant mother.

ACOG president Steven J Fleischman called the suggestions of a link between paracetamol and autism “irresponsible”.

“When considering the use of medication in pregnancy, it’s important to consider all potential risks along with any benefits,” Fleischman said in a statement.

“The data from numerous studies have shown that acetaminophen plays an important – and safe – role in the well-being of pregnant women,” Fleischman said, using the name for paracetamol in the US.

While some research has found evidence of an association between paracetamol and neurological conditions such as autism, medical experts have cautioned that more robust studies have found no link, and that causation remains unproven.

One of the biggest population-based studies, published by Swedish researchers last year in The Journal of the American Medical Association, found no link when comparing children who had been exposed to the painkiller with siblings who had not.

Arthur Caplan, a bioethicist at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, described the Trump administration’s moves as “hugely negative” for public health.

“The big reveal about autism was a total bust full of misinformation, a lack of evidence, bad advice and a bogus answer about the cause,” Caplan told Al Jazeera.

“I think mainstream medicine will ignore what he said today,” Caplan said.

“I think patients can’t trust federal science in the USA and must turn to other reputable sources.”

Catherine Lord, a professor of psychiatry at UCLA who specialises in autism, said studies showing a link between paracetamol use and autism were limited by the presence of confounding factors that are difficult to control for.

“I think the medical community will be firm that Tylenol in pregnancy does not cause autism, but will probably tell pregnant women they should always be careful about medication,” Lord told Al Jazeera.

“But they also need to realise that having a high fever or being in pain is not good for a growing baby either, so they should consult their doctor.”

In its updated guidelines announced on Monday, the US Food and Drug Administration cited evidence of a “correlation” between paracetamol use and autism, and noted studies suggesting a heightened risk when the drug is taken “chronically” throughout pregnancy.

Still, the drug regulator was notably less emphatic than Trump, noting that a causal relationship had yet to be established, and the existence of “contrary studies in the scientific literature”.

“It is also noted that acetaminophen is the only over-the-counter drug approved for use to treat fevers during pregnancy, and high fevers in pregnant women can pose a risk to their children,” the regulator said, using the other generic name for paracetamol.

Autism has no known single cause, but is believed to be related to an interplay of genetic and environmental factors, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.

President Trump blamed the over-the-counter drug acetaminophen, commonly known by the brand name Tylenol, as a significant factor in the rise of U.S. autism diagnoses on Monday, at a news conference in which he offered often inaccurate medical advice for the nation’s children and pregnant women.

“Taking Tylenol is not good. I’ll say it. It’s not good,” Trump said, flanked by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz.

In a series of rambling, error-filled remarks that touched upon pain relievers, pregnancy, vaccines and the Amish — who he inaccurately said have no autism prevalence in their communities — Trump also said that the mumps, measles and rubella vaccine should be broken up into multiple shots and that children defer until age 12 the hepatitis B vaccine series now started at birth.

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“I’m just making these statements from me, I’m not making them from these doctors,” he said. “It’s too much liquid. Too many different things are going into that baby.”

The announcement was met with dismay from autism researchers and advocates who said that research thus far into causal links between acetaminophen and autism has turned up minimal evidence.

“Researchers have been studying the possible connections between acetaminophen and autism for more than a decade,” said Dr. David Mandell, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. The Trump administration, he said, “has cherry-picked findings that are not in line with most of the research.”

Physicians and researchers also took issue with Trump’s insistence that there was “no downside” to women avoiding fever-reducing drugs in pregnancy. In fact, studies show that untreated fever in pregnancy is associated with higher risk of heart and facial birth defects, miscarriage and neurodevelopmental disorders — including autism.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will initiate a safety-label update for Tylenol and other acetaminophen products and send a letter to physicians about potential links between the drug’s use and autism, Kennedy said.

The actual text of the letter is much milder than Trump’s impassioned critique.

“In the spirit of patient safety and prudent medicine, clinicians should consider minimizing the use of acetaminophen during pregnancy for routine low-grade fevers. This consideration should also be balanced with the fact that acetaminophen is the safest over-the-counter alternative in pregnancy among all analgesics and antipyretics,” states the letter, signed by FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary.

Monday’s announcement followed weeks of speculation that Kennedy planned to publicly link Tylenol usage to autism, which prompted multiple medical associations to release statements clarifying that any evidence of a causal relationship between the two is limited, and that the drug is safe to take during pregnancy with medical advice.

“All of us in the advocacy community, and all of us who have children with autism, had very high hopes that RFK and the President were serious when they said they wanted to find the causes of autism,” said Alison Singer, co-founder and president of the Autism Science Foundation. “The problem is that so far, what we’ve heard has not been gold-standard science.”

The administration also said it would fast-track the labeling of leucovorin, a generic drug currently used to reduce side effects of chemotherapy, as a treatment for autism-related speech deficits. Also known as folinic acid, leucovorin is a form of the B vitamin folate. Research into its effect on autistic children is still in its early stages, researchers said. The few studies that have been published had small sample sizes and found only minimal improvements in symptoms of concern, Mandell said.

“I want to see a large, rigorous, independent trial. In the absence of that, to tout this as a cure is reckless,” he said. “Families deserve better.”

Autism spectrum disorder is a complex neurological and developmental condition. Symptoms cluster around difficulties in communication, social interaction and sensory processing, and the condition can manifest in many different ways based on co-occurring disabilities and other factors.

Diagnoses in the U.S. have risen steadily since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began tracking data in 2000, thanks in large part to a broadening definition of the disorder and increased efforts to identify children with ASD.

Today one in 31 U.S. 8-year-olds has been identified as having autism spectrum disorder, according to the most recent CDC data, up from one in 150 in 2000.

Kennedy has long asserted that’s due to an external environmental cause, often using inaccurate statements to describe both the condition and the research around it.

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Most experts believe genetic links and changing diagnostic criteria play a significant role in the trend. In April, Kennedy dismissed such research and arguments as “epidemic denial.” He said he was certain an external factor was to blame.

“We know it’s an environmental exposure. It has to be,” Kennedy said. “Genes do not cause epidemics.” He said at the time that the administration would find an environmental cause by September.

Research into causal links between acetaminophen and autism have not found strong evidence.

Last year, a team of researchers from the U.S. and Europe reviewed records of 2.5 million babies born in Sweden between 1995 and 2019. At first glance, it did seem like children exposed to acetaminophen in the womb were 5% to 7% more likely to be diagnosed with autism than those who weren’t. But when the researchers compared those children to their siblings, they found that kids from the same parents were equally likely to be diagnosed with autism, whether their mother took acetaminophen during pregnancy or not.

“If you actually do an apples to apples comparison, you see absolutely zero effect. The association flatlines. In other words, there’s no real risk that’s attributable to acetaminophen,” said Brian K. Lee, a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at Drexel University who was on the study team. “A large elephant in the room is being ignored, and that’s genetics.” Hundreds of studies over the years have explored the complex genetics of autism, with both inherited and spontaneous genes contributing to the condition.

The paper also noted that women who took acetaminophen while pregnant were, unsurprisingly, more likely to suffer from the kinds of ailments for which the medication is indicated, like fevers or chronic pain.

They were also more likely to have diagnoses of autism or other neurodevelopmental disorders, to have pre-existing mental health conditions or to be taking other prescribed medications, the team found. Their results were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

“People don’t take acetaminophen for fun. They are taking it for a health condition,” Lee said.

He compared the correlation between Tylenol exposure and autism to the correlation between ice cream sales and drownings. Both of those things tend to increase at the same time each year, he said, not because ice cream is deadly but because both rise during hot summer months. In other words, the underlying health causes that women are taking acetaminophen to treat could be more likely linked to autism than the pain reliever itself.

“This is just such a shame when there are so many things we could do to help autistic children and adults, and the negative consequences — making parents feel guilty about taking Tylenol during pregnancy and newly pregnant women afraid — are real,” said Catherine Lord, a clinical psychologist and autism researcher at UCLA. “Just sad all around.”

President Donald Trump said doctors in the US will soon be advised not to prescribe the pain reliever Tylenol to pregnant women, citing a disputed link between the drug and autism.

Trump made the announcement on Monday in the Oval Office along with Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.

The US president claimed that taking Tylenol, known as paracetamol elsewhere, “is no good” and that pregnant women should only take it in cases of extreme fever.

Some studies have shown a link between pregnant women taking Tylenol and autism, but these findings are inconsistent and inconclusive. Tylenol maker Kenvue has defended the use of the drug in pregnant women.

In a statement to the BBC, it said: “We believe independent, sound science clearly shows that taking acetaminophen does not cause autism. We strongly disagree with any suggestion otherwise and are deeply concerned with the health risk this poses for expecting mothers.”

Aacetaminophen – Tylenol’s active ingredient – is the safest pain reliever option for pregnant women, it added, and without it, women face a dangerous choice between suffering through conditions like fever or use riskier alternatives.

During the announcement on Monday, US Health Secretary RFK Jr said the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will begin the process of changing labels on the drug’s packaging to note what he said is the risk of use during pregnancy.

He added that the FDA will also begin issuing a public health campaign to spread awareness.

In April, RFK Jr pledged “a massive testing and research effort” to determine the cause of autism in five months.

But experts have cautioned that finding the causes of autism – a complex syndrome that has been researched for decades – would not be simple.

The widely held view of researchers is that there is no single cause of autism, which is thought to be the result of a complex mix of genetic and environmental factors.

The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology said doctors across the country have consistently identified Tylenol as one of the only safe pain relievers for pregnant women.

“Studies that have been conducted in the past, show no clear evidence that proves a direct relationship between the prudent use of acetaminophen during any trimester and fetal developmental issues,” the group has said.

The drug is recommended by other major medical groups as well as other governments around the world.

In August, a review of research led by the dean of Harvard University’s Chan School of Public Health found that children may be more likely to develop autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders when exposed to Tylenol during pregnancy.

The researchers argued some steps should be taken to limit use of the drug, but said the pain reliever was still important for treating maternal fever and pain, which can also have negative effects for children.

But another study, published in 2024, found no relationship between exposure to Tylenol and autism.

“There is no robust evidence or convincing studies to suggest there is any causal relationship,” said Monique Botha, a professor in social and developmental psychology at Durham University.

Dr Botha added that pain relief for pregnant women was “woefully lacking”, with Tylenol being one of the only safe options for the population.

Autism diagnoses have increased sharply since 2000, and by 2020 the rate among 8-year-olds reached 2.77%, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Scientists attribute at least part of the rise to increased awareness of autism and an expanding definition of the disorder. Researchers have also been investigating environmental factors.

In the past, Kennedy has offered debunked theories about the rising rates of autism, blaming vaccines despite a lack of evidence.

Sept. 22 (UPI) — President Donald Trump likely will announce Monday that use of Tylenol in pregnancy causes autism, according to media reports.

Trump told reporters Sunday night that he believed Tylenol was “a very big factor” in autism risk, despite a recent study finding that taking acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, during pregnancy was not tied to autism spectrum disorder.

When asked to confirm reports that he planned to tie Tylenol to increased risk of autism, Trump said, “We’re going to see tomorrow. We’re going to do it tomorrow, but I think it’s a very big factor.”

An announcement is scheduled for 4 p.m. EDT with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Tylenol maker Kenvue disputes the tie to ASD.

“We believe independent, sound science clearly shows that taking acetaminophen does not cause autism,” Kenvue said in a statement. “We strongly disagree with any suggestion otherwise and are deeply concerned with the health risk this poses for expecting mothers.”

“The facts are that over a decade of rigorous research, endorsed by leading medical professionals and global health regulators, confirms there is no credible evidence linking acetaminophen to autism,” the statement said.

Trump also criticized vaccines.

“Vaccines are very interesting,” Trump told reporters. “They can be great, but when you put the wrong stuff in them, and, you know, children get these massive vaccines, like you’d give to a horse, like you’d give to a horse. And I’ve said for a long time, I mean, this is no secret.”

Autism diagnoses in the United States have increased significantly since 2000. By 2020, the U.S. autism rate in 8-year-olds was 1 in 36, or 2.77%, up from 0.66% in 2000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Research spanning decades hasn’t found firm answers on what contributes to autism, but many scientists believe genetics and environmental influences play a role. Kennedy has argued the country has an “autism epidemic” fueled by “environmental toxins.”

DAVINA McCall’s dating show has proven life-changing for one bride after it unlocked a hidden disorder. 

Gorgeous Millie Thompson, 30, has been diagnosed with autism and ADHD after taking part on Stranded on Honeymoon Island having realised her OCD was so intense she considered smuggling in a pair of socks. 

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One of the DJ and model’s quirks was she cannot bear to be barefoot, so she thought about sewing a secret set into her wedding dress. 

The BBC show sees singles marooned on a deserted beach in only their wedding attire. 

Millie told The Sun: “Coming back from the show, I ended up getting tested for ADHD and autism and I found out I have both. 

“I have learnt so much about myself, someone described it as being ‘neuro spicy’ and I love that for me.

“It’s lifechanging really.

“I always knew things like I couldn’t be without a pair of socks, I always have to be wearing a pair, but being on the show made everything clear. 

“This sounds crazy but I was contemplating sewing some socks into the boob bit of my wedding dress, I was like ‘can I smuggle in some socks?!’ but then I was like, no they’ll be disgusting. 

“Now I know that’s why I am how I am. 

“I’ve changed so much from it but in such a good, positive way and everyone has noticed.”

Millie was so conscious of being without her comforts, she had her wedding dress custom made with the experience in mind. 

She included a bodysuit she could wear like a onesie, and a skirt she could detach and use as a mosquito net. 

Millie, from Cheshire, added: “I am such a girly girl, I was combing my hair extensions with a fork. 

“But the experience makes you strip everything back and I thought I’d struggle because I’m so OCD but I actually coped really well.”

Viewers saw her struggle with the show’s dramatic jump into the sea that kicks off their stranded experience. 

“With Love Island there’s other couples and you can escape, but there’s nothing like Stranded for this, you’ve just got each other.”

Millie Thompson

After meeting at the altar, the couples then take a boat out to their deserted beach and then plummet into the sea ahead of a swim to land. 

But poor Millie can’t swim and she had to fit a life vest over her gorgeous wedding dress. 

She said: “That was a massive thing for me because I literally will not get in the water, I can put my feet in but that’s it, so to have to do that was massive.”

But she reckons being out of her comfort zone kickstarted a connection with her groom Jordan in a way that could never happen on Love Island.

While she can’t give away what happens on her journey, Milile added: “You are on a beach with absolutely nothing, you are relying on each other for everything.

“With Love Island there’s other couples and you can escape, but there’s nothing like Stranded for this, you’ve just got each other.”

Stranded on Honeymoon Island continues on BBC One tonight at 9pm, then returns next week on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. 

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The first episodes are already available to stream on BBC iPlayer.

When it comes to vaccines, virtually nothing that comes out of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s mouth is true.

The man in charge of the nation’s health and well being is impervious to science, expertise and knowledge. His brand of arrogance is not just dangerous, it is lethal. Undermining trust in vaccines, he will have the blood of children around the world on his hands.

Scratch that.

He already does, as he presides over the second largest measles outbreak in this country since the disease was declared “eliminated” a quarter century ago.

“Vaccines have become a divisive issue in American politics,” Kennedy wrote the other day in a Wall Street Journal essay, “but there is one thing all parties can agree on: The U.S. faces a crisis of public trust.”

The lack of self-awareness would be funny if it weren’t so tragic.

Over the past two decades or so, Kennedy has done more than almost any other American to destroy the public’s trust in vaccines and science. And now he’s bemoaning the very thing he has helped cause.

Earlier this month, Kennedy fired the 17 medical and public health experts of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices — qualified doctors and public health experts — and replaced them with a group of (mostly) anti-vaxxers in order to pursue his relentless, ascientific crusade.

On Thursday, at its first meeting, his newly reconstituted council voted to ban the preservative thimerosal from the few remaining vaccines that contain it, despite many studies showing that thimerosal is safe. On that point, even the Food and Drug Administration website is blunt: “A robust body of peer-reviewed scientific studies conducted in the U.S. and other countries support the safety of thimerosal-containing vaccines.”

“If you searched the world wide, you could not find a less suitable person to be leading healthcare efforts in the United States or the world,” psychiatrist Allen Frances told NPR on Thursday. Frances, who chaired the task force that changed how the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM, defines autism, published an essay in the New York Times on Monday explaining why the incidence of autism has increased but is neither an epidemic nor related to vaccines.

“The rapid rise in autism cases is not because of vaccines or environmental toxins,” Frances wrote, “but is rather the result of changes in the way that autism is defined and assessed — changes that I helped put into place.”

But Kennedy is not one to let the facts stand in the way of his cockamamie theories. Manufacturers long ago removed thimerosal from childhood vaccines because of unfounded fears it contained mercury that could accumulate in the brain and unfounded fears about a relationship between mercury and autism.

That did not stop one of Kennedy’s new council members, Lyn Redwood, who once led Children’s Health Defense, the anti-vaccine group founded by Kennedy, from declaring a victory for children.

“Removing a known neurotoxin from being injected into our most vulnerable population is a good place to start with making America healthy again,” Redwood told the committee.

Autism rates, by the way, have continued to climb despite the thimerosal ban. But fear not, gullible Americans, Kennedy has promised to pinpoint a cause for the complex condition by September!

Like his boss, Kennedy just makes stuff up.

On Wednesday, he halted a $1-billion American commitment to Gavi, an organization that provides vaccines to millions of children around the world, wrongly accusing the group of failing to investigate adverse reactions to the diptheria vaccine.

“This is utterly disastrous for children around the world and for public health,” Atul Gawande, a surgeon who worked in the Biden administration, told the New York Times.

Unilaterally, and contrary to the evidence, Kennedy decided to abandon the CDC recommendation that healthy pregnant women receive COVID vaccines. But an unvaccinated pregnant woman’s COVID infection can lead to serious health problems for her newborn. In fact, a study last year found that babies born to such mothers had “unusually high rates” of respiratory distress at or just after birth. According to the CDC, nearly 90% of babies who were hospitalized for COVID-19 had unvaccinated mothers. Also, vaccinated moms can pass protective antibodies to their fetuses, who will not be able to get a COVID shot until they are 6 months old.

What else? Oh yes: Kennedy once told podcaster Joe Rogan that the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic was “vaccine-induced flu” even though no flu vaccine existed at the time.

He also told Rogan that a 2003 study by physician scientist Michael Pichichero, an expert on the use of thimerosal in vaccines, involved feeding babies 6 months old and younger mercury-contaminated tuna sandwiches, and that 64 days later, the mercury was still in their system. “Who would do that?” Kennedy demanded.

Well, no one.

In the study, 40 babies were injected with vaccines containing thimerosal, while a control group of 21 babies got shots that did not contain the preservative. None was fed tuna. Ethylmercury, the form of mercury in thimerosal, the researchers concluded, “seems to be eliminated from blood rapidly via the stools.” (BTW, the mercury found in fish is methylmercury, a different chemical, which can damage the brain and nervous system. In a 2012 deposition for his divorce, which was revealed last year, Kennedy said he suffered memory loss and brain fog from mercury poisoning caused by eating too much tuna fish. He also revealed he has a dead worm in his brain.)

Kennedy’s tuna sandwich anecdote on Rogan’s podcast was “a ChatGPT-level of hallucination,” said Morgan McSweeney, a.k.a. “Dr. Noc,” a scientist with a doctorate in pharmaceutical sciences, focusing on immunology and antibodies. McSweeney debunks the idiotic medical claims of non-scientists like Kennedy in his popular social media videos.

Speaking of AI hallucinations, on Tuesday, at a congressional committee hearing, Kennedy was questioned about inaccuracies, misinformation and made up research and citations for nonexistent studies in the first report from his Make America Healthy Again Commission.

The report focused on how American children are being harmed by their poor diets, exposure to environmental toxins and, predictably, over-vaccination. It was immediately savaged by experts. “This is not an evidence-based report, and for all practical purposes, it should be junked at this point,” Georges C. Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Assn. told the Washington Post.

If Kennedy was sincere about improving the health of American children he would focus on combating real scourges like gun violence, drug overdoses, depression, poverty and lack of access to preventive healthcare. He would be fighting the proposed cuts to Medicaid tooth and nail.

Do you suppose he even knows that over the past 50 years, the lives of an estimated 154 million children have been saved by vaccines?

Or that he cares?

@rabcarian.bsky.social
@rabcarian

Once upon a time, PBS was virtually the only portal through which British mysteries came to America. Jeremy Brett‘s peerless Sherlock Holmes, two flavors of Miss Marple, David Suchet as Hercule Poirot, Roy Marsden and Martin Shaw successively as Adam Dalgliesh, “Inspector Morse” and its prequel “Endeavour,” Michael Gambon in “Maigret,” Helen Mirren in “Prime Suspect,” “Rumpole of the Bailey,” “Foyle’s War,” the Benedict Cumberbatch contemporized “Sherlock,” Alec Guinness in John LeCarre’s “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” “Wallander” with Kenneth Branagh — classics, all. With the rise of cable, as channels looked abroad for content, there was eventually competition for shows, and in the streaming environment, with BritBox and Acorn TV wholly devoted to bringing U.K. content to the U.S., there is even more.

Meanwhile, PBS, which used to run “Mystery!” under its own flag, now has it booked as part of “Masterpiece.” Yet it still nabs some genre gems, often with something conceptually extra, recently including the meta “Magpie Murders” and its sequel, “Moonflower Murders.” Now comes “Patience,” an ingratiating episodic series premiering Sunday, whose title character, played by Ella Maisy Purvis, is autistic (as is Purvis herself).

Adapted by Matt Baker from the French series “Astrid et Raphaëlle,” it stars Purvis as Patience Evans, a civilian clerk working in the seemingly uninhabited and endless archives of the York police department, where, by wheeling some shelves together, she has fashioned herself a little fortress of solitude in which she hides out with some pet mice. In the opening two-part episode, she detects a pattern linking a new and old murder, which brings her into the orbit of detective inspector Bea Metcalf (Laura Fraser), her juniors Jake Hunter (Nathan Welsh) and Will Akbari (Ali Ariaie) and their boss Calvin Baxter, played by Mark Benton, whom BritBox watchers will recognize from “Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators,” if considerably cleaned up and a little lighter.

While Bea sees the merits of bringing Patience into the investigation, Jake rejects her, both as an outsider and as “temperamentally unsuitable for this kind of work,” though — spoiler alert — he will come around. (It’s a friendly show.) “I don’t care if she’s autistic,” says detective Bea, “I just care if she’s right.” (She is — mostly.) For her part, Patience tells Bea, “Your deductive leaps of logic can be haphazard and your notes are cursory,” but she admires her clearance rate, the best in the country.

Whether diagnosed (or diagnosable) or not, the quirky sleuth has been a feature of detective fiction since Holmes first whipped out a magnifying glass. Fans and scholars have retrospectively diagnosed the character as being on the spectrum, and you can easily find essays and discussions as to whether Poirot’s fastidiousness at least borders on OCD. There are arguments pro and con, but some fraction of the neurodivergent community is happy to claim them as their own. In this century, television has given us “Monk,” “Bones,” “Professor T.” (also via PBS, and streaming from the website), the ongoing “Ludwig” and broadcast shows “Will Trent,” “Elsbeth” and “High Potential,” with heroes whose preternatural, if not pathological, focus amounts to a superpower. (Diane Kruger’s Det. Sonya Cross on FX’s “The Bridge,” is often held up as particularly true to life.) Of course, all fictional detectives, whether social, antisocial or introverted, tend to be superhuman to some degree, whatever personal challenges they might face, with a more original, more acute perception than their colleagues. That’s why we love them.

Billy Thompson (Connor Curren) leads an autism support group that Patience (Ella Maisy Purvis) attends.

(Eagle Eye Drama / Toon Aerts)

The opening episodes offer a primer in autism, conducted mainly by Patience’s godfather, retired Det. Douglas Gilmour (Adrian Rawlins), with whom she lives, and Billy Thompson (Connor Curren), who leads an autism support group. (Curren is also autistic.) If it’s a little on the money in terms of dialogue, it’s useful information given that many are aware of autism without knowing much about it — it shows up more on TV because it shows up more in the zeitgeist, and screenwriters are always looking for a new angle. (It’s especially welcome here, given the ignorant remarks of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the current secretary of health, on the causes and experiences of autism.) Still, the neurotypical viewer might wonder how accurately the series portrays neurodivergence, and indeed, within the community, which is nothing like homogeneous, one finds a multiplicity of views. (The series has already shown in the U.K.) That Purvis, now 21 and diagnosed at 17, is herself autistic, suggests that, while she’s playing someone other than herself, the series is to some degree true to her own experience.

Patience carries two umbrellas in case one breaks. (It rains a lot in England, you know.) Building up to approaching Bea, she writes out what she wants to say in a conversational flow chart. She won’t cross a “police line, do not cross” tape unless ushered through and she jumps from an elevator as soon as it becomes too crowded (and exceeds its legal capacity). She’s incapable of small talk (“Are you just being polite or do you really want to know?” she asks Bea, when Bea asks how she is), but does point out that Bea’s socks are mismatched and tells cute forensic specialist Elliot Scott (Tom Lewis) that “Your surname’s a first name and your first name’s a surname,” though, to be picky about it, both names are first names and surnames. Still, it’s the beginning of something.

The mysteries are of the usual unusual sort common to cozy mysteries. (They can be a little sillier than they’re meant to, but it’s not fatal.) Why are apparently happy men killing themselves, on the fourth Friday of the month? One, set in a natural history museum, involves fossils; there’s a locked room mystery (with a mystery writer for a victim), which delights Patience, an Agatha Christie fan, and there’s a corpse that seemingly walks off a table in the morgue. Patience, who cannot resist an unsolved puzzle, is drawn reluctantly out of her shell, and Bea begins to notice things in her young son Alfie (an impressively individual Maxwell Whitelock) that remind her of Patience.

There are times when characters act less than reasonably, or less intelligently than their official position might indicate. If Patience is fast in making calculations and connections, the others can seem slow off the mark, and although everyone is on the case — in cop shows, teamwork typically makes the dream work — she makes the breakthroughs that lead to a solution. Of course, the very logic of the series demands she be invaluable, and in this regard, it’s no different from most mystery series, where one character is out ahead of everyone else in solving the crime.

Not everything makes perfect, or even imperfect, sense. But as always, the plots are there almost as a pretext to spend time with the characters, and the whole cast is good company. But Purvis especially, in spite of Patience’s self-containment, radiates quiet charisma — new-star power. A second season, happily, is already on the cards.