Harvard dean cited in Trump’s Tylenol warning was paid expert witness in 2023 suit against drugmaker
A Harvard researcher whose study about Tylenol’s effects on pregnant women underpinned President Trump’s Monday warning that expectant mothers avoid the drug was once a paid expert witness in a lawsuit against the manufacturer — and was ripped by a federal judge for unreliable, sloppy work.
Dr. Andrea Baccarelli, the dean of the Ivy League institution’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, co-authored a study analysis last month linking acetaminophen — the pain reliever’s active ingredient — to neurodevelopmental disorders including autism.
The conclusion of the analysis, first reported by The Times of London, warned pregnant women to “limit acetaminophen consumption to protect their offspring’s neurodevelopment.”
Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary approvingly cited the review during Monday’s announcement, insisting that the “overwhelming body of evidence points to an association” between Tylenol and autism.
“We cannot wait any longer,” added Makary, quoting Baccarelli’s dire warning directly.
President Trump echoed the FDA chief’s remarks, telling reporters from the Roosevelt Room: “With Tylenol, don’t take it! Don’t take it.”
However, Baccarelli served as a paid expert witness in an unsuccessful 2023 class-action suit against Tylenol maker Kenvue, brought by a group of parents who claimed their children’s ADHD and autism was a result of the mothers taking the drug while pregnant.
Baccarelli was one of five expert witnesses for the plaintiffs in the case — all of whom had their testimonies dismissed by a federal judge who deemed their conclusions “unbalanced.”
“The discussion in his reports is incomplete, unbalanced and at times misleading,” wrote Manhattan US District Judge Denise Cote. “In general, Dr. Baccarelli downplays those studies that undercut his causation thesis and emphasizes those that align with his thesis.”
Cote further found the expert witnesses “have not served to enlighten but to obfuscate the weakness of the evidence on which they purport to rely and the contradictions in the research.”
Harvard confirmed to The Times that Baccarelli was a paid expert witness, but would not disclose how much he was compensated.
In a statement shared with the White House ahead of Monday’s press conference, Baccarelli restated his “rigorous” National Institutes of Health-funded review of the potential risks of acetaminophen use during pregnancy.
“Patients who need fever or pain reduction during pregnancy should take the lowest effective dose of acetaminophen, for the shortest possible duration, after consultation with their physician about their individual risk-benefit calculation,” he wrote.
Other studies have shown a link between autism and prenatal use of Tylenol, but the scientific community has serious misgivings about their findings.
The Coalition for Autism Scientists, which includes more than 250 American researchers, told the outlet that the administration’s warnings about the drug “do not support the claim that Tylenol causes autism … and only stoke fear and falsely suggest hope when there is no simple answer.”