Trump’s announcement on Tylenol signals a return to restraint—something sorely missing in American health care.
On Monday, President Donald Trump held a press conference to announce a link between women’s use of Tylenol during pregnancy and autism.
Given strong recommendations against counterparts like Advil and aspirin, Tylenol has been the analgesic of choice for pregnant women for the past century. But Trump’s announcement wasn’t much of a departure from previous recommendations.
Starting in the 2010s, research began to raise questions about the safety of acetaminophen—the active ingredient in Tylenol—during pregnancy. Observational studies suggested potential associations between prolonged or high-dose acetaminophen use and adverse outcomes. Those adverse outcomes included neurodevelopmental disorders like attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, and autism spectrum disorder, or ASD.
A 2021 consensus statement, published in Nature Reviews Endocrinology and signed by 91 scientists, called for caution in using acetaminophen during pregnancy. The statement listed potential risks and urged more research while advising minimal use at the lowest effective dose.
In Monday’s press conference, Trump’s message to the public was that taking Tylenol is “not good.” He issued the simple recommendation that pregnant women “don’t take it.”
But Dr. Mehmet Oz, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, offered a more nuanced suggestion.
“We know that people who take Tylenol for prolonged periods of time during pregnancy seem to have a higher incidence of autism in aggregate,” Oz said in an interview on Fox News.
“So the message is not, ‘Never take Tylenol.’ It’s, ‘Take Tylenol judiciously.’ Take it by talking with your doctor. Make sure there’s an important reason to take it. Don’t take it willy-nilly because you think it’s so safe it couldn’t possibly cause a problem, because those assumptions appear to be erroneous.”
Moderation and caution seem to be a sensible approach to any medication—including over-the-counter drugs. In fact, that’s what’s historically been the case.
These days, though, a return to common sense is often seen as radical conspiracy theory by leftists if it comes from the Trump administration. Over on social media, some women have been popping Tylenol while flaunting their bellies. It’s likely they didn’t even have symptoms—they’re just downing drugs because Donald J. Trump said not to.
This is the sickness of our society. Americans are plagued by a lack of discernment, coupled with an intolerance of the slightest discomfort. We suffer from a foolishness that suggests if one is okay, then more is better, and from a culture that tells us struggle is unnecessary and that comfort and ease are paramount virtues.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in health care.
Today, doctors prescribe pharmaceuticals for a variety of symptoms and body parts without asking anything about a patient’s lifestyle—what they eat, how they sleep, their relationships, their jobs.
Gone are the days when your doctor lived in your community. Doctors used to know who you were, who your kids were. They saw you at church and baseball games. Now, you don’t even have to see a doctor in person.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of telehealth has rapidly increased, now representing 23% of all U.S. healthcare encounters. In some specialties like mental health, telehealth rates exceed 50%.
If you’re lucky enough to see a medical professional in person, don’t expect them to ask many questions. Most studies indicate that primary care physicians spend somewhere around 15 minutes on face-to-face interaction with patients during routine visits. I need more time to tell a friend about my bowel movements.
Patients seem all too willing to comply with this impersonal and compartmentalized approach to healthcare. They don’t want to alter behavior or disrupt their current habits. They just want the pain to go away, no matter what the costs or side effects. After all, the side effects of one drug can always be mitigated by another.
As a result, statins, insulin, and SSRIs are handed out like candy. Even mental health medications can be prescribed by doctors who aren’t licensed mental health practitioners. Essentially, a patient can tell his or her primary care doctor, “I’m sad,” and the doctor will scratch out an Rx for Paxil, Prozac, or Lexapro.
At best, these sorts of remedies are negligent. At worst, they’re medical malpractice that violates every notion of “do no harm.”
It’s this lack of prudence and inability to navigate through discomfort that, I believe, has resulted in the disgusting procedures youth undergo in attempts to change their sex. The worst part is the adults—both parents and professionals—have allowed it.
We can’t continue like this. It’s unsustainable, not just financially but ethically. We cannot continue to walk around like numb zombies lacking any sense of clarity, moral or otherwise. It’s killing people, both metaphorically and literally.
Across the board, from healthcare to diplomacy, the Trump administration’s tactics have been a return to common sense. They’re a return to the things that make us human and ultimately, help us thrive; a return to the virtues of fortitude, courage, and temperance. Americans would be wise to recognize these virtues and begin practicing them, especially when it comes to their health.
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