WASHINGTON -- Many doctors and scientists were reeling Monday after President Donald Trump went on TV to insist that pregnant women should never take Tylenol and revive debunked theories about vaccines and autism.
Trump went beyond his own Food and Drug Administration's more modest advice that doctors "should consider minimizing" the painkiller acetaminophen's use in pregnancy - amid inconclusive evidence about whether too much could be linked to autism. His comments came as the administration also moved to make more available a possible but unproven autism treatment - and also announced more research into the disorder.
Dr. Steven Fleischman, president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, worried that the Tylenol claims would terrify mothers-to-be and parents of