Since President Donald Trump announced in a White House press conference Three weeks ago, Tylenol use by pregnant women could increase the risk of autism in their children, claims about the drug have been circulating online.
in a Cabinet meeting last weekTrump repeated claims that autism rates are low in some groups, including the Amish community, because they don’t take medication or get vaccinated.
Additionally, the president repeated a claim he made on social media that young children, including infants, should not be given Tylenol without providing evidence to support the claim.
Unverified claims that pregnant women ingest toxic amounts of the drug have also been spread to justify its administration.
Doctors told ABC News that these claims have been debunked before and that continuing to circulate misinformation and disinformation can be dangerous.
Donald Trump attends a Cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, on October 9, 2025.
Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
“I empathize with people who turn on the TV or listen to the radio or scroll through their phone and say, ‘Oh my gosh, is acetaminophen safe? Isn’t it?'” said Dr. Alok Patel, a pediatrician at Stanford Children’s Health and an ABC News contributor. “I get it. At the end of the day. Take a deep breath. Look at the science and talk to your doctor or health care professional. We’ll walk you through it.”
In response to a request for comment, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services referred ABC News to a post Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote on X, accusing the media of attacking him “for something I didn’t say to distract from the truth of what I did.”
Claim: Amish children do not have autism because they do not take acetaminophen
During the September White House press conference, claims were made about the prevalence of autism within the Amish community.
“I think I can say that there are certain groups of people who don’t get vaccinated or take pills, who don’t have autism,” Trump said.
After Kennedy referenced the Amish, Trump continued: “The Amish. Yeah, pretty much, I didn’t listen to any of them…There are certain groups, the Amish as an example. Basically, they don’t have autism.”
Trump later repeated the claim, saying, “It doesn’t exist with the Amish community, and they don’t take away all this trash. It doesn’t exist.”
Dr. Alan Shuldiner, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine who has studied the Amish population in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, for decades, said there have been very few systematic studies of autism in the Amish community.
One of the only reports, a abstract by researchers at the University of Miami and Vanderbilt University that was published in 2010 and presented at an international meeting for autism research, looked at autism among the Amish of Indiana and Ohio.
Researchers estimated that autism in these Amish communities among children was about one in 271, which is lower than the 2022 rate in the US among the general population of one in 31.
“It’s really difficult to compare prevalence rates,” Schuldiner told ABC News. “One in 271 is the number they came up with, but the methods used to estimate the prevalence of autism in the general population are quite different, and the use of doctors and health workers in the two communities is different.”
“I would hesitate to compare the figure of 271 with any estimate of the general population,” he continued.
Dr. Jeremy Veenstra-VanderWeele, director of the division of child and adolescent psychiatry at Columbia University, told ABC News that genetic conditions may also contribute to the prevalence of autism among Amish populations.
For example, mutations have been identified in the CNTNAP2 gene, which plays a role in the development and function of the nervous system. linked to a predisposition to autismparticularly among some Amish children.
Members of the Amish community stop by a home in Mechanicsville, MD.
Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post via Getty Images
“There are genetic conditions including autism that are actually more common in the Amish population, including a variant in CNTNAP2, which has been widely characterized and is associated with autism and epilepsy,” he said. “Basically, this is seen exclusively in the Amish community as an example of how the current administration is wildly misinformed and hasn’t read the medical literature.”
Experts said there is also no evidence to suggest that the Amish do not use generic acetaminophen or Tylenol, as there are no current studies that solely examine Tylenol use in the Amish.
“In terms of Tylenol, I can say with authority that the Amish definitely use Tylenol,” Schuldiner told ABC News. “In studying 10,000 Amish over 30 years, we asked the vast majority: ‘What medications do you take?’ And certainly Tylenol is on the list of things the Amish take.”
He continued, “It’s hard to compare whether they use more Tylenol or less Tylenol than the general population, but I can certainly comment that they do use Tylenol.”
Claim: Pregnant Women Are Taking Unhealthy Doses of Tylenol
Rumors have circulated on social media that there is a rise in the number of pregnant women taking harmful doses of acetaminophen to spite the Trump administration following its announcement that use of the drug during pregnancy may be linked to autism.
During Friday’s Cabinet meeting, Kennedy said he was shown a TikTok video of an eight-month pregnant woman cursing at Trump and “guzzling” Tylenol.
Another unverified claim from the founder of American Frontline Nurses, a group who spread disinformation During the COVID-19 pandemic, he testified that a pregnant woman took excessive amounts of Tylenol to prove that the drug does not cause autism after Trump’s White House announcement and subsequently required ICU care.
Paracetamol can be toxic when ingested in doses higher than recommended, with symptoms including abdominal pain, stomach upset, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and even seizures. Treatment received within eight hours of an overdose may increase the chance of recovery, according to the National Library of Medicine.
Doctors who spoke to ABC News said they have not seen any confirmed reports, or an increase, of women taking high-dose acetaminophen to make a statement.
“We don’t have any evidence to suggest that pregnant women are taking excessive amounts of Tylenol, to spite the current administration, or to make some kind of grandiose claim about the proposed safety of Tylenol,” Patel told ABC News.
Patel said she has seen videos of pregnant women advocating for using Tylenol in certain situations, such as for pain or fever.
Packages of Tylenol are seen at a pharmacy in Houston, Texas, on September 23, 2025.
Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP via Getty Images
“Some women have taken to social media to say, ‘Hey, I’m pregnant and I’m going to take Tylenol safely,'” she said. “And it’s important to note that pregnant women have also stated that they will only take the smallest dose for the shortest interval to treat pain or symptoms.”
Patel added that Tylenol is the safest medication to take during pregnancy to treat pain and fever, and is safer than other medications, including ibuprofen or aspirin, which can increase the risk of complications for both the mother and fetus.
Claim: Young Children Should Not Take Tylenol
In addition to advising pregnant women not to take paracetamol due to a suspected risk of autism, Trump also advised parents not to give the medication to their children.
“Do not give Tylenol to your young child for virtually any reason.” Trump wrote in a social media post in September.
Trump repeated the advice during a Cabinet meeting, stating that after a baby is born, “don’t give him Tylenol, if you can help it, just don’t give him Tylenol.”
TO post on Tylenol website recommends that children take the product only in doses appropriate for their age and weight, following label instructions or a physician’s guidance.
He American Academy of Pediatrics and other medical groups say acetaminophen is safe for children when used correctly and there are no studies linking its use in children to autism.
Patel said that while doctors would like to keep the amount of medication potentially given to newborns or babies low, there are certain situations where it can be useful.
“There are certain situations where young babies have elevated temperatures, fever or pain, and it affects sleep, it affects their ability to eat,” Patel said. “They may be becoming dehydrated, and in these situations, it’s actually the safest option to give these babies Tylenol.”
Patel said it’s important to make sure parents are giving their children a safe dose based on weight, or the smallest amount the child needs for the shortest amount of time.
During the Cabinet meeting, Kennedy stated that circumcised boys have higher rates of autism, adding that this is most likely due to being given Tylenol.” Kennedy referred to “two studies” but did not specify which ones.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (3L) speaks during a Cabinet meeting hosted by Donald Trump (R) in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, DC, October 9, 2025.
Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
TO Danish study from 2015 found an increase in autism diagnoses among circumcised boys, particularly those under 5 years old, but the authors say the results do not prove causality. The study also did not mention Tylenol, acetaminophen or any pain relievers, according to a mail by public health scientist Jessica Steier.
Other Ecological analysis 2013. found a correlation between the prevalence of autism in men and a country’s circumcision rate. Although the authors state that the data did not provide “strong evidence of causality.”
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