Liberals are furious at the Trump administration for taking a decisive step toward addressing one of the nation’s most pressing public health crises: the skyrocketing rates of autism. Earlier this week, President Donald Trump joined Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to make several announcements about their progress in discovering the root causes of autism.
Kennedy reported that the HHS is opening the door to the first FDA-recognized treatment pathway for some of the effects of autism and is also launching investments in 13 new research projects. Commenting on the medical establishment’s lackluster understanding of the causes of autism, Kennedy said, “Historically, NIH has focused almost solely on politically safe and entirely fruitless research about the genetic drivers of autism. And that would be like studying the genetic drivers of lung cancer without looking at cigarettes. And that’s what NIH has been doing for 20 years.” Instead, Trump’s NIH is now finally taking the steps to solidify the causes of America’s autism crisis.
Most sensationally, the Trump administration is also taking action on acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, for its likely links to neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism, when used during pregnancy. The move “trusts the science” of numerous large-scale studies that make the connection, including a new study led by the dean of the faculty at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Most studies conducted on acetaminophen use during pregnancy concur that fetal exposure to acetaminophen poses a “significantly increased risk of childhood ADHD and ASD in a dose-response fashion.” While the Harvard-affiliated analysis noted that some studies did not report positive links to neurodevelopmental disorders, the analysis pointed out that the majority of studies did, and “higher-quality studies were more likely to show positive associations.”
According to Kennedy, the FDA is responding by issuing a physician’s notice about acetaminophen’s risks during pregnancy and will begin the process to initiate a safety label change. “HHS will launch a nationwide public service campaign to inform families and protect public health,” he said.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt summed up the announcement: “The Trump Administration does not believe popping more pills is always the answer for better health. There is mounting evidence finding a connection between acetaminophen use during pregnancy and autism — and that’s why the Administration is courageously issuing this new health guidance.”
Predictably, the liberal establishment erupted in a frenzy of mockery and manufactured outrage, with numerous media outlets writing stories attempting to debunk the administration’s cautions about acetaminophen. Despite compelling reasons to be concerned with acetaminophen use during pregnancy, outlets encouraged women to still “take Tylenol despite Trump’s repeated admonitions.” Dr. Sindhu Srinivas, president of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, was upset with Trump’s announcement because he doesn’t want pregnant women to feel guilty for taking Tylenol.
In other words, the anti-Trump mob is now popping pills contrary to the manufacturer’s own advice.
In the days following the announcement, social media platforms were flooded with videos of progressives dramatically popping Tylenol pills, chugging liquid versions, or even proposing “Tylenol parties” as a form of protest to spite Trump.
Others have pointed out the absurdity of this outrage, posting years’ worth of medical studies and media outlets cautioning against acetaminophen during pregnancy. In the most damning turn of events, people have resurfaced a 2017 post on X from Tylenol itself that reads, “We actually don’t recommend using any of our products while pregnant.” In other words, the anti-Trump mob is now popping pills contrary to the manufacturer’s own advice. It appears that Trump-degrangement-syndrome may actually pose tangible health risks.
At the deeper level, the Left’s frantic reactions undermine the very argument of the science they claim to follow. The whole claim of the scientific method is that scientific findings are always subject to revision in light of new evidence. Science is a process of questioning, testing, revising, and moving closer to the truth. Scientific findings are always subject to revision in light of new evidence, and the scientific community ought to follow the best available data, not the convenient conclusions of yesterday.
The Trump administration’s willingness to act on the best available evidence and investigate a broader range of possible causes of autism is not a rejection of science; it is science.
In reality, the most striking part of the Trump administration’s announcement on Monday was how subdued it actually was. Trump and Kennedy didn’t pretend as if they had all the answers, and they made clear that their actions and recommendations were tentative and in need of more study. According to Kennedy, “Autism is a complex disorder” influenced by multiple factors. Even in their cautions about Tylenol, Kennedy highlighted that there are some “contrary studies that show no association” between autism and acetaminophen use during pregnancy.
In a further note of restraint, Trump and Kennedy also did not come out with any definitive statement claiming that vaccination was linked to autism, even though Kennedy mentioned vaccines as “one area that we are closely examining” with further studies.
In other words, Monday’s conference was merely a cautious and tentative first step to address an issue that’s deeply meaningful to both Trump and Kennedy. As Kennedy said, “We expect this to be the first of many announcements over the coming years that deliver actionable information to parents on underlying causes of autism and the potential paths for prevention and reversal.” As the administration addresses the crisis, it’ll have to work to continue to navigate media hysterics.
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