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President Donald Trump is expected to announce on Monday that his administration has identified what it believes is one of the root causes of autism.
Speaking during his address at a memorial service for the slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Arizona on Sunday, the president veered off at a tangent to promote his next public appearance by saying, “I think you’re going to find it to be amazing. I think we found an answer to autism.”
Offering no further details about what he intends to say about the condition, Trump did pledge that his administration “won’t let it happen anymore” and added: “I think it’s going to be one of the most important news conferences I’ll ever have, and I look so forward to it.”
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Before his appearance at the Kirk tribute event, the president told reporters at the White House on Friday, “Autism is totally out of control. I think we, maybe, have a reason why.”
The Washington Post reported earlier on Sunday that Robert F Kennedy Jr’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) plans to link the consumption of the over-the-counter pain medication Tylenol, which contains acetaminophen, during pregnancy to the onset of autism and to recommend that it only be used to tackle high fevers.
The Post also reported that the HHS believes that low levels of folate, a vitamin essential for the development of a baby’s brain and spine, are also a contributing cause behind autism and will recommend the cancer and anaemia drug leucovorin, or folinic acid, as a means of addressing its symptoms.
Two senior officials subsequently confirmed to Politico that those two points would be the subject of Monday’s event, with White House spokesperson Kush Desai promising that the “announcement will make historic progress.”
A spokesperson for Tylenol’s manufacturer, Kenvue, disagreed with the administration’s reported conclusions about the alleged ties between its product and autism and warned that the announcement could force expectant mothers to make “dangerous choices” between enduring pain and taking riskier painkillers.
“The facts are that over a decade of rigorous research, endorsed by leading medical professionals and global health regulators, confirms there is no credible evidence linking acetaminophen to autism,” the spokesperson said.
“We stand with the many public health and medical professionals who have reviewed this science and agree. We will continue to explore all options to protect the health interests of American women and children.”
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Kenvue’s assessment is widely shared by medical professionals, with Dr Christopher Zahn, chief of clinical practice for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, saying in a statement: “There is no clear evidence that proves a direct relationship between the prudent use of acetaminophen during pregnancy and fetal developmental issues.
“Neurodevelopmental disorders, in particular, are multifactorial and very difficult to associate with a singular cause. Pregnant patients should not be frightened away from the many benefits of acetaminophen, which is safe and one of the few options pregnant people have for pain relief.”
Associate professor Alex Polyakov of the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences at the University of Melbourne, Australia, also rejected attempts to link painkillers to the condition by saying: “Research shows that both autism spectrum disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder are predominantly driven by genetic factors, which account for around 70-80 percent of overall risk, while environmental influences together contribute only about 20-30 percent.”
Kennedy, who has a history of making controversial claims about the supposed links between vaccines and autism, has expressed his determination to rein in what he believes has become an “epidemic.”
“We’re finding … certain interventions now that are clearly, almost certainly causing autism, and we’re going to be able to address those in September,” he said at a cabinet meeting last month.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is under the secretary’s stewardship, reported earlier this year that one in 31 American eight-year-olds was diagnosed with autism in 2022, compared with one in 150 in 2000, suggesting a significant rise.
However, the CDC’s own experts dismissed the idea that the condition is spreading by pointing to an expanded definition of autism being adopted in 2013 and the improved screening of children, two factors that have led to more people being diagnosed with the condition this century and that explain the hike.
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