JERICKA DUNCAN:
00:00:19
President Trump's warning yesterday rattled the medical community.
DONALD TRUMP:
00:00:24
Tylenol during pregnancy can be associated with a very increased risk of autism. So taking Tylenol is not good.
JERICKA DUNCAN:
00:00:39
The president's claim, without presenting new evidence, that the over-the-counter drug is linked to autism is getting major pushback from medical groups. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists issued a statement saying not a single reputable study has successfully concluded that the use of acetaminophen in any trimester of pregnancy causes neurodevelopmental disorders in children. I was around 20 weeks, and I was taking Tylenol.
JERICKA DUNCAN:
00:01:06
Dr. Lucky Sekhon is an OB/GYN and fertility doctor in New York City and a mother of two who says she took Tylenol during one of her pregnancies. Can pregnant women safely take Tylenol? I am telling all of my patients, if you have fever or you have pain in pregnancy, even in the first trimester, it is safe to take Tylenol.
JERICKA DUNCAN:
00:01:27
If left untreated, doctors say high fever or severe pain can cause more harm to the mother or fetus than the drug itself.
LUCKY SEKHON:
00:01:35
We're not saying everyone should pop a Tylenol every day. We're saying, if you have a fever, if you have pain, you need to treat it. And I think the messaging of tough it out is something that, unfortunately, we have said to women in health care in this country for far too long.
JERICKA DUNCAN:
00:01:51
The largest study of its kind, released last year, involving nearly 2 and 1/2 million children in Sweden, between 1995 and 2019, found no causal link between autism and acetaminophen use in pregnancy. Co-author of the study Viktor Ahlqvist says acetaminophen is still the safest drug during pregnancy.
VIKTOR AHLQVIST:
00:02:13
The alternatives to acetaminophen in the US might be other medications with less safe profiles, such as opiates or other things to manage pain. The Food and Drug Administration says it will now put a new warning label on the drug. Kenvue, the company that markets Tylenol, says, quote, "We believe independent sound science clearly shows that taking acetaminophen does not cause autism."
