The much-ballyhooed press conference took place last week; it promised the disclosure of “the cause of autism”. President Trump touted it, with his flare for showmanship, as “the most important press conference I’ve ever held,” and said he’d “waited twenty years for this.”
The Big Reveal: Tylenol!
The news was greeted skeptically by mainstream media, colored by their disdain for the Trump Administration. The New York Times sneered:
“Trump Issues Warning Based on Unproven Link Between Tylenol and Autism”
CNN exulted: “Experts Push Back at Trump’s Autism-Tylenol Link”
Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine proponent and foe of “health misinformation”, sniffed:
“Donald Trump declares that Tylenol during pregnancy causes autism in arguably the most irresponsible press conference in history.”
The Controversy
It’s true that the science behind the Tylenol link to adverse pregnancy outcomes is controversial. Some studies have found a link between taking acetaminophen in the first trimester of pregnancy and the incidence of autism (and ADHD); others have exonerated it.
But Dr. Marty Makary, Commissioner of the FDA, accompanied by Mehmet Oz, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, when confronted by a CNN interviewer who questioned the link, cited rigorous studies that upheld the risk, including a just-published meta-analysis by Harvard researchers weighing the evidence in 46 prior research papers. Even if some studies did not detect harms, Makary and Oz claimed the precautionary principle requires that the government issue a warning.
In a hastily convened meeting with RFK Jr., the CEO of Tylenol maker Kenvue stressed there is “no clear link” between the medication and autism.
Johnson & Johnson used to make Tylenol, but it spun off its consumer division years ago to Kenvue. Their stock plunged 25% over last year as rumors of the impending warning were confirmed by Trump’s press conference.
Mainstream OB-GYNs also criticized the warning, claiming that acetaminophen is a godsend for women suffering from fever during pregnancy; infections accompanied by high temperatures can increase the likelihood of preterm births and are a known risk factor for neurodevelopmental disorders like schizophrenia in offspring.
But isn’t fever the body’s natural response to infection, mobilizing the body’s immune defenses, not to be suppressed?
Conspiracy theorists went to work. In a widely shared social media post, they claimed that Mehmet Oz is conflicted and should resign:
“RFK Jr. is set to announce that Tylenol causes autism. And then he’ll push the ‘cure’: leucovorin (folinic acid) Who sells folinic acid? Dr. Oz’s supplement company iHerb.”
In fact, leucovorin is a prescription drug, long off-patent, and it’s dirt-cheap. It’s also widely available as a supplement, including on iHerb. But the real truth is that Oz is already independently wealthy. And while an initial investor in iHerb, as part of his divestiture on assuming public office, Oz no longer holds a stake in it.
Skeptics also assailed what they claimed was the out-sized role of controversial William Parker MD in promoting the acetaminophen link to autism. Disparaged as “RFK Jr.’s autism whisperer”, he is author of numerous scientific papers indicting Tylenol use, not just in pregnancy, but also for young children. That being said, many other reputable researchers have confirmed his findings.
The Link Between Tylenol and Autism Explained
Full disclosure: I take acetaminophen, although very occasionally. It provided blissful relief when I had Covid, when my entire body ached. Rarely, when overtraining, I get very sore leg muscles, which interfere with sleep. Tylenol obliterates that type of pain in minutes.
On the other hand, Tylenol does virtually nothing for joint or back pain and provides marginal relief for most headaches.
But two things I do when I resort to Tylenol: I don’t drink alcohol, and I take N-acetyl cysteine (NAC). The reason? Both alcohol and acetaminophen harm the liver—the combo is additive. And Tylenol depletes glutathione—the body’s master antioxidant.
When a Tylenol overdose victim arrives in hospital—and it’s easy to OD, especially if you don’t eat while sick or consume alcohol and take a few more pills than you should—they’re immediately given NAC. It helps to restore glutathione production and has saved many from imminent liver failure.
The tie-in to autism is as follows: Perhaps some women, their fetuses, or even young children, by virtue of a genetic glitch or a health condition, are unable to make adequate glutathione. When challenged by acetaminophen, even in modest doses, their antioxidant defenses are overwhelmed, and brain injury occurs during a crucial developmental stage.
The Vitamin That Might Help Autism
Where does folinic acid fit in? It’s now been recognized, after years of naysaying, that neural tube defects can be prevented by folic acid supplements. In fact, it took a landmark freedom-of-speech case (Pearson v. Shalala 1999) (helmed by Constitutional attorney Jonathan Emord, now representing the Alliance for Natural Health) to compel the FDA to allow the claim, paving the way for universal prenatal folic acid supplementation.
But due to differences in folate transporter genes, some people—and potentially many autistic children or their mothers—can’t properly metabolize synthetic folic acid. In fact, kids on the spectrum have inordinately high rates of MTHFR gene variants, making them more prone to folate deficiency. Alternatively, by virtue of autoimmunity triggered by environmental insults, folate receptors in the brain may be blocked. Folinic acid—an over-the-counter supplement also marketed as the prescription drug leucovorin—bypasses the metabolic choke point.
No Silver Bullets?
Did Trump’s vaunted press conference overpromise, but underdeliver? Arguably yes, because it focused narrowly on the sensational claim that Tylenol is the cause of autism, and that leucovorin is a fix. But it represents a bold attempt to address a critical health problem via a radical departure from Groupthink. The current autism paradigm—toward which most research dollars have been allocated—emphasizes uncovering genetic precedents. But we’re running out of culprit genes, and making scant progress, amid “analysis paralysis”. MAHA is attempting to flip the script to pursue environmental leads.
Everything is on the table. President Trump announced thirteen “major” new NIH grant studies investigating the causes of autism. “They have to do it, and they have to move quickly,” the President said.
RFK Jr.’s HHS is launching an unprecedented 50-million-dollar effort to reverse years of declining funding for autism research—and change directions. It’s an all-of-the-above inquiry, seeking to link nutrient deficiencies, toxic chemical and heavy metal exposures, gut imbalances, infections, drug effects, even electromagnetic exposure to autism. And yes, vaccines, too.
While our increasing schedule of shots seems to be tolerated by most kids, many develop high fevers in reaction to combination boosters. The recommended solution—since aspirin has been banned because it’s dangerous for toddlers—Children’s Tylenol! That may pose a double-whammy to kids’ delicate immune systems and trigger a cascade of brain changes that lead to lifelong neurodevelopmental problems.
Of course, it’s possible that Tylenol is not a cause of autism, but is merely associated with a greater likelihood that a mother needing it during pregnancy is more sickly and more likely to deliver an autistic child than moms who don’t resort to it; by the same token, its use by kids who are later diagnosed as autistic may merely highlight those more prone to severe vaccine reactions, necessitating acetaminophen for fever control, but with the vaccine the main culprit.
Total Load Theory
Documenting Hope explains it this way:
“This theory serves as a unifying theory behind the growing rates of chronic illnesses in children in the modern industrial world. The total number of environmental, physical, biological, lifestyle and other types of health stressors that are experienced by modern children are substantially greater than any prior generation of children in human history. It is the cumulative and synergistic impact of living in the modern industrial world that has resulted in one of the greatest health crises of all time.”
“When children experience a total load of health stressors that is too great during their critical developmental windows (prenatally through the first 6 years of life), they may exhibit neurodevelopmental or neurobehavioral symptoms and often receive diagnoses like autism, ADHD or learning disabilities.”
Beyond Tylenol
Whatever the case, President Trump in his blunt remarks at the Tylenol press conference did not hold back when it came to vaccines:
“Don’t let them pump your baby up with the largest pile of stuff you’ve ever seen in your life going into the delicate little body of a baby.” He inveighed against batching multiple vaccines into multivalent shots as is currently recommended, suggesting splitting them up at intervals instead of loading up at one visit. That’s already triggered a fuss among mainstream pediatricians over the CDC’s revised vaccine guidelines.
There’s no denying Trump and his MAHA cohorts are launching a broad-based offensive against autism. No Presidential administration has done that before. In so doing, they’re simultaneously incurring the wrath of the medical establishment, the government and academic health policy elite, BigPharma and its vaccine divisions, BigAgriculture with its pesticide and herbicide franchises, BigFood purveyors of ultra-processed foods, chemical industry polluters, and even telecommunication giants who blanket us with EMFs, as well as political foes eager to disparage the Administration’s every initiative as “junk science”.
Aaron Siri, health freedom attorney, summed it up:
“The fact that a sitting president is willing to point to and call out any consumer product sold by a powerful and well-heeled company is a milestone.”
Battle lines will be drawn, but this should not be about mere politics. Addressing the alarming uptick in autism incidence should be a national priority. Future generations deserve no less.
