During a White House press conference on Monday, President Trump warned women against the possible dangers of taking Tylenol while pregnant and said the FDA will be giving doctors new guidance on the drug.
"Acetaminophen....which is basically commonly known as Tylenol, during pregnancy, can be associated with a very increased risk of autism. For this reason, they are strongly recommending that women limit Tylenol used during pregnancy unless medically necessary," Trump said.
"Medically necessary" would mean only in cases where a high fever would pose a risk to the unborn person.
The American Academy of Pediatrics said the news conference was filled with "dangerous claims and misleading information" and that no studies have proven that the use of acetaminophen by pregnant women is a cause for autism.
But FDA commissioner Dr. Martin Makary says a Harvard University and Mount Sinai review of more than two dozen studies found that an autism link is possible.
"They saw 27 studies that show an association, and four studies that did not, and the Dean of the Harvard School of Public Health concluded that there was a causal association between acetaminophen use and pregnancy and autism," Makary said.
The maker of Tylenol strongly disagrees, saying, "We believe independent, sound science clearly shows that taking acetaminophen does not cause autism. We strongly disagree with any suggestion otherwise."
CBN News Medical Reporter Lorie Johnson confirms some studies do show a possible link, but says they are incomplete.
"Here's the problem: the human studies so far have been observational, not scientific studies. It would be immoral to do scientific studies giving pregnant women Tylenol, which could possibly harm the babies, so these are just observational studies, and the question is, what else was going on with these women?" Johnson said.
The administration is also recommending an FDA-approved cancer drug, Leucovorin, as a possible treatment for autism.
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