Pregnant women in ERs reduced Tylenol use after Trump's autism warning
The warning suggested Tylenol could raise babies' autism risk
A study in The Lancet documented this behavioral change
Scientists state there is no proven link between Tylenol and autism
📖 Full Retelling
A study in The Lancet finds that pregnant women in emergency rooms used less Tylenol after President Trump said it could raise their babies' risk of autism. Scientists say there is no proven link. (Image credit: Francis Chung)
Tylenol is a brand of medication, advertised for reducing pain, reducing fever, and relieving the symptoms of allergies, cold, cough, headache, and influenza. An active ingredient in these medications is acetaminophen (paracetamol), an analgesic and antipyretic, although other ingredients with signi...
The Lancet is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal, founded in England in 1823. It is one of the world's highest-impact academic journals and also one of the oldest medical journals still in publication.
The journal publishes original research articles, review articles (divided into semina...
President of the United States (2017–2021; since 2025)
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 45th president from 2017 to 2021.
Born into a wealthy New York City family, Trump graduated from the...
Health Pregnant women in ERs took less Tylenol after Trump autism warning March 5, 2026 6:32 PM ET By Sydney Lupkin President Trump urged pregnant women to avoid taking Tylenol in a White House announcement in September 2025. Francis Chung/Politico/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Francis Chung/Politico/Bloomberg via Getty Images President Trump told pregnant women in September 2025 to avoid Tylenol because taking it would increase their babies' risk of autism: "Taking Tylenol is not good — I'll say it: It's not good." Public Health Trump blames Tylenol for autism. Science doesn't back him up Doctors and scientists quickly said the data didn't support the president's claim , but emergency room orders for Tylenol, or acetaminophen, for pregnant patients went down 10% in the months that followed, according to a new study in The Lancet . There was no change in the acetaminophen orders for comparable women who weren't pregnant. "It happened overnight," says Dr. Jeremy Faust , an emergency physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston who led the study. The president's words "had an immediate impact on how much Tylenol or acetaminophen was being ordered in emergency departments." It's not clear from the study whether patients declined to take Tylenol or doctors prescribed it less. Faust says it's probably some combination of the two. "This is thousands of women not getting pain control or not getting fever reduction when they need it, when they want it, when they would benefit from it," Faust says. The study was limited to emergency department visits and didn't account for women considering Tylenol at home. The data came from electronic health records from more than 1,600 hospitals. Dr. Caleb Alexander, an epidemiology professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health , says the response to Trump's White House announcement didn't surprise him. "Words matter," he says. "And when they come from someone with as big an audience as the p...
