We already know that President Donald Trump has an interesting relationship with alternative facts. In the first 100 days of his second term alone, he’d already made over 100 false claims to the American public.
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Now, the same guy who suggested people drink bleach as a potential cure for COVID-19 during his first term is out with more unsubstantiated medical advice. In a September 22 press conference, the President urged expectant mothers not to take Tylenol for their pain or fever during their pregnancy and instead, “tough it out,” because of a potential link to autism. And while many people couldn’t get past the fact that he had a hard time pronouncing “acetaminophen,” some were left confused and concerned about causing harm to their children.
The concern is particularly high in the Black community, where three percent of children receive an autism diagnosis, compared with two percent of white children, according to data from the CDC.
The Root wanted to find out how doctors are responding to Trump’s surprising new claims, so we spoke with Terrilyne Cole, MD, MBA, an Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases Physician and co-owner of Meadows Place Associates LLC, to get more information.
According to Dr. Cole, although the medical community has studied potential associations between acetaminophen use and various health outcomes for years, a direct causal link between using the drug during pregnancy and the development of autism has not been established.
“Some observational studies have suggested potential associations. particularly regarding prenatal exposure to acetaminophen. However, these studies have limitations, including potential confounding factors, reliance on self-reported data and the inability to conclusively determine cause and effect,” she said.
For parents and caregivers who have questions or concerns about taking acetaminophen, Dr. Cole recommends speaking directly with your doctor, who knows you and your family’s needs best.
“Medical advice should always be tailored to individual health circumstances and guided by the most current scientific evidence,” she said.
Maria Davis-Pierre, CEO of Autism in Black, agrees. She says Trump and Kennedy’s recommendations are steeped in misinformation that unnecessarily spreads fear and guilt on Black parents who are already dealing with medical racism.
“We are not going to listen to clowns, ok? We are not joining their circus,” she said on TikTok.“They are sitting up in that White House on those platforms and spewing hate, they’re fearmongering us, and we’re not going to listen to it.”
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