Decoding the paracetamol-autism controversy

In Focus by The Hindu · Oct 15, 2025 · 28m

A few weeks ago, U.S. president Donald Trump made a startling announcement: he said using the common painkiller paracetamol, or acetaminophen, known as Tylenol in the U.S. during pregnancy, could cause autism in the baby. This announcement came after earlier this year, the U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a known vaccine sceptic, announced a massive testing and research effort to identify the “environmental toxins” that he said were behind the growing “epidemic” of autism in the U.S.

It is true that more cases of autism are being reported now than in previous decades, and this is…