Donald Trump (AP)
US President Donald Trump stumbled over the pronunciation of “acetaminophen,” better known as Tylenol, on Monday, while claiming an unproven link between the drug and autism. “Effective immediately, the FDA will be notifying physicians that the use of aceta— well, let’s see how we say that,” Trump said before adding “Acetam — enophin. Acetaminophen. Is that OK? Which is basically commonly known as Tylenol.”Speaking at the White House alongside department of health and human services secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr., Trump suggested, without scientific evidence, that Tylenol (also known as paracetamol) could be connected to autism and advised pregnant Americans to limit its use.“Taking Tylenol is not good … All pregnant women should talk to their doctors about limiting the use of this medication while pregnant,” he added. Social media users ridiculed the president’s mispronunciation.“My advice to pregnant women is to follow their doctor’s instructions and not this dumb orange idiot who can’t pronounce acetaminophen,” a user on X posted.“That was embarrassing, it was definitely not his best moment,” commented another.The World Health Organization clarified on Tuesday that neither the painkiller Tylenol, its active ingredient paracetamol, nor vaccines cause autism, countering claims made by Trump. “Vaccines do not cause autism,” said WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic. “The childhood immunisation schedule, carefully guided by WHO, has been adopted by all countries and has saved at least 154 million lives over the past 50 years.”Jasarevic noted that while some observational studies have suggested a potential link between prenatal acetaminophen (paracetamol) exposure and autism, the evidence remains inconsistent. He highlighted that subsequent research has found no such connection and cautioned against drawing definitive conclusions, stating that a strong link would likely appear consistently across multiple studies.
