https://apnews.com/article/rfk-jr-tylenol-autism-circumcision-trump-f92078ebc210677dadaa0d315472742c
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Thursday reasserted the unproven link between the pain reliever Tylenol and autism, and suggested people who opposed the theory were motivated by hatred for President Donald Trump.
During a meeting with Trump and the Cabinet, Kennedy reiterated the connection, even while noting there was no medical proof to substantiate the claim. He also mistakenly described a pregnant woman’s anatomy and linked autism to circumcision.
“Anybody who takes the stuff during pregnancy unless they have to is, is irresponsible,” Kennedy told Trump and fellow Cabinet members. “It is not proof. We’re doing the studies to make the proof.”
Kennedy has long espoused unconventional beliefs about public health, which have prompted concern among medical experts that, as health secretary, he could upend the country’s evidence-based health policies.
Kennedy noted during the meeting that he had seen a TikTok video on Thursday, which he said featured a pregnant woman “gobbling Tylenol” and cursing Trump. “The level of Trump derangement syndrome has now left the political landscape and now in the realm of pathology,” he said. Kennedy also said the woman was taking Tylenol “with a baby in her placenta.”
A fetus develops in the uterus, not the placenta. The placenta is a temporary organ that develops in the uterus during pregnancy and provides oxygen, nutrients, and hormones to the growing fetus.
Kennedy’s statement came two weeks after he stood with Trump in the White House as the president used his office to promote unproven and, in some cases, discredited ties between Tylenol, vaccines and autism.
Kennedy also said Thursday that infant boys who are circumcised have double the rate of autism because they are given Tylenol after the procedure.