৬ সেপ্টেম্বর, ২০২৫

"Robert F Kennedy Jr is expected to announce a potential link between pregnant women’s use of the over-the-counter pain medication Tylenol and autism in an upcoming report...."

"The findings would run counter to a large body of scientific research. JAMA Psychiatry published a large study of nearly 2.5 million children in Sweden last year and found no causal link between prenatal acetaminophen exposure and a child’s risk of autism. The research suggests that any previously observed associations were likely due to other underlying factors. Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed against manufacturers of acetaminophen products, claiming they failed to warn pregnant women about the potential risk of autism. A federal litigation related to these claims was dismissed in late 2023 and again in August last year after a judge excluded expert testimony due to a lack of sufficient scientific evidence linking prenatal acetaminophen use to autism...."

From "RFK Jr to announce link between use of painkillers and autism/The US health secretary is expected to release a report linking the use of the over-the-counter drug Tylenol during pregnancy to the neuro-developmental disorder" (London Times).

৬৩টি মন্তব্য:

Wince বলেছেন...

But that does not explain the increasing rate of autism, does it? Are more pregnant women taking Tylenol every year?

lonejustice বলেছেন...

Kennedy has a real bad case or "Orange Man" face. I know he really admires Trump, but maybe he's taking it too far.

Dogma and Pony Show বলেছেন...

For all I know, RFK may be 1000% wrong in pointing to Tylenol or vaccines as the reason why autism rates have skyrocketed. But what explanation have his detractors come up with?

It's the same with crime: Lb. Pritzker and other rail against Trump for wanting to send in federal troops, but what is THEIR solution?

Jim বলেছেন...

Tylenol-the wonder drug that does wonders. I can remember this ad phrase, but have a hard time with my keys.

Iman বলেছেন...

It’s a tragedy, what’s happened to you, lonejustice. I encourage you to hang in there, it’s possible things will get better. So there is justification for some hope. Without hope and some positive thinking, where would you be.

Aggie বলেছেন...

This is the definition of front-running a story. Before you publish a story about something an adversary is doing, you lay the groundwork that establishes for the dutiful that whatever he might be doing, whatever he might be getting ready to announce, you must understand that it is wrong, and be prepared to loudly announce this as soon and as often as possible.

Karen of Texas বলেছেন...

Acetaminophen depletes glutathione in the liver. "Research also indicates that acetaminophen can deplete glutathione levels in other tissues, such as the brain...The risk of toxicity is heightened in individuals with pre-existing low glutathione levels, such as those with alcohol-related liver disease or undernutrition..."

Glutathione is kind of important. It "plays a crucial role in maintaining cellular health by neutralizing harmful free radicals and reactive oxygen species, which helps prevent oxidative stress and cell damage." Detoxification processes in the liver occur when it conjugates with toxins and heavy metals via the glutathione S-transferase enzymes, which makes the icky things water-soluble for excretion. It also helps regenerate other antioxidants. There *are* toxins and heavy metals in vaccines.

Doctors often tell parents to give Tylenol to their baby right before vaccines - or after when they often become cranky(reactive). So you're introducing a substance that depletes the master antioxidant right when a baby needs it most. Add in a polymorphism or two, with variations thar can lead to either reduced or enhanced enzyme activity, impacting an individual's susceptibility to toxins, drugs, and chronic diseases, and you have the perfect storm.

Vaccination should not be a one size fits all. Genetic testing should be used to determine what children would be more susceptible to adverse outcomes. Also, not a good idea to introduce a substance (acetaminophen) that dicks around with the process.

Dave Begley বলেছেন...

Short Tylenol. Pelosi did.

Dave Begley বলেছেন...

Down 10%.

Jamie বলেছেন...

[shrug] Let's see the studies. I myself am not competent to evaluate study design, for example, but others are - and may not have had the opportunity to do so up to now.

It just seems (sorry) impossible that the wild increase results simply from more diagnoses. I have read... somewhere... that the incidence of profound autism - a diagnosis that hasn't expanded, as far as I'm aware - has also jumped by orders of magnitude, which would seem (sorry) to require explanation beyond "we just recognize it better."

A psychologist relative of mine points to greater parental age. I've seen no discussion of studies of this except one, years ago, that found some link between advanced paternal age but not maternal age.

Levi Starks বলেছেন...

Any threat to the established medical industrial complex is a threat to the health of the nation. To the point of sacrificing the health of the nation.

ga6 বলেছেন...

RFKJr vs JAMA: after covid, monkey pox idiocy and the mass closing of mental institutions I think I go with the Secretary.

n.n বলেছেন...

The cause of autism is likely to have, like the condition, a basket of causes with viable effects in empathetic environments under sympathetic conditions. Think Covid19 where the disease did not progress equitably in a husband and wife in close proximity, but was selective in the former with comorbidities. Also, the migration of mRNA in some individuals with progressive, toxic even abortive outcomes. The inflammatory conditions forced by vaccines, dietary choices, etc as first-order forcings of chronic conditions. The choice of holes in spreading disease sensitive to sexual orientation. There is a reason why drugs have a prescribed use and dosage.

TeaBagHag বলেছেন...

Evidence? Scientific method? Peer reviewed? Not on RFK’s watch. MAGA!

Kakistocracy বলেছেন...

With abortions, mifepristone, and Tylenol all illegal, millions of American women will be subjected to forced pregnancies without access to pain relief. No doubt this is why MAHA suburban moms are still standing by Trump.

Earnest Prole বলেছেন...

With autism now solved, cancer must be quaking in its boots.

John henry বলেছেন...

No idea whether acetaminophen causes autism or not. I don't even have any idea whether the report will say or suggest it does based on this statement

An HHS spokesperson told Newsweek via email, "We are using gold-standard science to get to the bottom of America's unprecedented rise in autism rates. Until we release the final report, any claims about its contents are nothing more than speculation."

https://www.newsweek.com/rfk-jr-autism-update-pain-medication-folate-symptoms-2125323

What I do find interesting is the wsj headline

RFK Jr., HHS to Link Autism to Tylenol Use in Pregnancy and Folate Deficiencies

I can't get a good answer from Ai but it serums like Tylenol has somewhere between 10 and 30%of the acetaminophen market.

Specifying"Tylenol "by name is going to make a lot oflawyers wealthy.

John Henry

John henry বলেছেন...

John henry বলেছেন...

What happens if it turns out there is no report by HHS of acetaminophen causing autism?

Short kenvue, run a fake story, cover the short and buy more kenvue.

Next week the report comes out and it says that the cause of additional is bananas

John Henry

John henry বলেছেন...

begone

John henry বলেছেন...

Test

John henry বলেছেন...

Help! (sorry. Can't turn bold off)

Christopher B বলেছেন...

bold off

Anthony বলেছেন...

Anything talking about "links" can largely be ignored. Epidemiology is an inherently weak science to begin with and "links" is just a way of saying "after a lot of fiddling, we came up with something that gets to 0.05 significance".

Freeman Hunt বলেছেন...

It's the Tropic Thunder administration.

mccullough বলেছেন...

If everyone stays home for two weeks, then wears a mask and stays 6 feet away from each other, Autism will be eradicated.

John henry বলেছেন...

From Nature, gold standard peer reviewed science




"We identified 46 studies for inclusion in our analysis. Of these, 27 studies reported positive associations (significant links to NDDs), 9 showed null associations (no significant link), and 4 indicated negative associations (protective effect... "


https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12940-025-01208-0#Sec2

H/t Jeff Childers coffee and covid blog

John Henry

Inga বলেছেন...

People should read about what RFK Jr. did in Samoa.

n.n বলেছেন...

A link is a hypothesis prematurely reported.

Temujin বলেছেন...

Oh boy. This should be fun.

Inga, people should read what I did in Samoa.
Or what you did in Madison. Anyway...that's what I heard.

Jamie বলেছেন...

Sigh. Kak, do you take aspirin or ibuprofen closer than 7 days before having surgery? No? Why not? Is it because there is a period when doing so would be dangerous to you?

Gosh, what if the same were to be true for certain medications during pregnancy? What if women had to go up to (gasp) a month or more without a particular medication, while the fetus is at a particular developmental stage?

The horror!

Even worse - what if a particular anti-nausea medication were shown to cause stillbirth or horrific birth defects in a small but significant number of pregnancies? Clearly you can't ban or even recommend not using that medication. Wouldn't it be just too cruel to force women to go through morning sickness? After all, there can't possibly be alternatives to that medication...

Could you possibly mean that if a causal link were to be found between a medication and freaking autism, women would prefer to have a child with a lifelong ASD instead of using alternative methods for pain relief for a while? Simply because RFK was in charge of the agency at the time the link were publicized? What an incredible position to take.

Oh wait. Maybe you're also pushing for in-utero testing that would reveal the ASD trait. Voila! Abort, and no more autism! Win-win-win! Because women never regret aborting a child, not ever suffer physical ill effects from the procedure. And it is in no way problematic to encourage the post-facto elimination of defective children from society.

And "forced pregnancy," my tired feet. Try harder.

Inga বলেছেন...

Tragedy in paradise

n.n বলেছেন...

RFK JR proposes to mitigate progress through choice and informed consent. Novel.

Yancey Ward বলেছেন...

If acetominophen had to go through a contemporary drug discovery and trial, I doubt it could get approved today. I worked in drug discovery and the kinds of effects it has on liver processes would have killed any drug candidate I ever worked on without even getting to human trials.

loudogblog বলেছেন...

Acetominophen is a pretty powerful drug that can have severe negative effects on the human body. Just at the extreme damage that slight overuse of the drug does to the human liver. (Plus, it hit me as odd that the article referred to it as "Tylenol" instead of acetominophen. Tylenol is the brand name one producer gives it whereas acetominophen is the drug's actual name.)

Inga বলেছেন...

Acetaminophen Use During Pregnancy and Children’s Risk of Autism, ADHD, and Intellectual Disability JAMA

“Question Does acetaminophen use during pregnancy increase children’s risk of neurodevelopmental disorders?

Findings In this population-based study, models without sibling controls identified marginally increased risks of autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) associated with acetaminophen use during pregnancy. However, analyses of matched full sibling pairs found no evidence of increased risk of autism (hazard ratio, 0.98), ADHD (hazard ratio, 0.98), or intellectual disability (hazard ratio, 1.01) associated with acetaminophen use.

Meaning Acetaminophen use during pregnancy was not associated with children’s risk of autism, ADHD, or intellectual disability in sibling control analyses. This suggests that associations observed in other models may have been attributable to confounding.”

Inga বলেছেন...

If any of my loved ones were pregnant now, until there are more studies, I’d recommend not using acetaminophen. There aren’t enough studies to prove the cause and effect of Tylenol use during pregnancy, but I’d encourage caution.

Prof. M. Drout বলেছেন...

Too many medical people have too much of a love affair with acetaminophen because once a drug gets that "utterly harmless" label (I mean, except for the fact that you can kill your liver with an overdose), there is a tendency to assume away any possible negative effects.
Supposedly Tylenol cannot cause GI problems and nausea. Which is great for everybody except the one side of my family that cannot tolerate it--even though that's impossible. By the way, because Tylenol is so amazingly benign, refusing pain medicines mixed with Tylenol can get you tagged as "drug-seeking" by overzealous nurses (who must believe that a woman who just had a C-section is going to go home and do a cold water extraction if they don't want painkillers that include Tylenol...)

n.n বলেছেন...

As RFK Jr. faces U.S. Senate, questions linger about a measles outbreak in Samoa, half a world away

Looking back, officials told CBS News they believe the outbreak's high death toll resulted from multiple factors, including widespread malnutrition, reliance on traditional medicine, and an overwhelmed health care system

The problem is that it is difficult to evaluate risk, and the vaxxxers have exacerbated the problem through the spread of misinformation, disinformation, malinformation, and handmade tales that poison the decision tree. #HateLovesAbortion ... the fourth choice.

Inga বলেছেন...
এই মন্তব্যটি লেখক দ্বারা সরানো হয়েছে।
Inga বলেছেন...
এই মন্তব্যটি লেখক দ্বারা সরানো হয়েছে।
Howard বলেছেন...

Consumption of massive amounts of sugar and high fructose corn syrup coupled with over prescription of antibiotics leading to the destruction of healthy gut bacteria and replacement with pathological gut bacteria is the most likely cause.

Inga বলেছেন...

“Offit says Kennedy had been posting about the two deaths before it was understood what had happened, and blamed the MMR vaccine. When that turned out not to be the case, Kennedy did not correct that false assertion.

"If he was any kind of man, which he isn't, he should go back to Samoa and apologize to every one of the families where a child died," Offit said. "He's a famous man who goes there and meets with anti-vaccine activists. He gives them credence by going there.”

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rfk-jr-samoa-measles-outbreak/

FullMoon বলেছেন...

Inga's link says:

"Years before Kennedy trained his focus on vaccine issues in Samoa, the small Pacific island nation had been experiencing low vaccination rates. Medical professionals attributed this to a shortage of doctors and nurses as well as demographic shifts, with more people moving to cities and away from social structures that helped promote childhood vaccinations. By 2017, only about half of 1-year-old Samoan children were fully vaccinated — far below the 95% coverage needed to prevent community spread and a steep drop from earlier rates that had reportedly reached 90%.

The situation took a tragic turn in July 2018 when two nurses mistakenly combined an expired muscle relaxant with MMR vaccine doses instead of sterile water, leading to the deaths of two children. The nurses were charged with manslaughter, and the government responded by suspending the national vaccination program for 10 months. Vaccination rates for children dropped to 31%.

Naseri, the former Samoan health chief, told CBS News that the government had struggled to implement an effective vaccine program. He said the mishandling of the vaccine and its tragic consequences "was the last straw."

"It created more hesitancy," Naseri said.

Mistrust in vaccines spread across the island like a virus. At the time, even the prime minister issued a statement on Facebook alleging that his grandson had been injured by a vaccine. The temporary suspension of vaccinations corresponded with a growing distrust in modern medicine.

buwaya বলেছেন...

In re bananas, I have been told to limit potassium (ie bananas) as I am at high risk of kidney failure.

Kakistocracy বলেছেন...

Women should not take Tylenol to relieve pain while they are pregnant. They should take heroin instead. ~ RFK Jr

Inga বলেছেন...

“Women should not take Tylenol to relieve pain while they are pregnant. They should take heroin instead. ~ RFK Jr”

Or maybe they should go for a relaxing swim in a polluted stream.

Jim at বলেছেন...

Kennedy has a real bad case or "Orange Man" face. I know he really admires Trump, but maybe he's taking it too far.

See, it's this kind of contribution that keeps me coming back. Sharp, insightful commentary from a true conservative.

Inga বলেছেন...

“Patricia Stinchfield, a nurse practitioner and past president of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, said she had been monitoring the Samoan vaccine crisis even before the measles outbreak struck. She says the immunization rates had dropped so low the situation was "a ticking time bomb."

It was in the midst of that "perfect storm," Stinchfield said, that Kennedy arrived in Samoa in the summer of 2019. Kennedy has said the purpose of his visit was to pitch a health surveillance system, and that the vaccination pause in 2018 was an opportunity to naturally study an unvaccinated population. His trip was coordinated by a local anti-vaccine advocate known for spreading medical misinformation online.”

So here was a vulnerable population and along comes RFK Jr. to make a bad situation EVEN WORSE.

“But in the midst of the island's state of emergency, Kennedy sent a letter to the Samoan prime minister suggesting a defective vaccine may have been responsible for causing infections — a theory that has been debunked.

It is critical that the Samoan Health Ministry determine, scientifically, if the outbreak was caused by inadequate vaccine coverage or alternatively, by a defective vaccine," Kennedy wrote in the Nov. 19, 2019 letter. Kennedy's letter partly leans on an idea that appears to have originated from misinformation widely spread on social media during a 2014-2015 measles outbreak at Disneyland that inaccurately said that measles originating from the vaccine had been identified.”

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rfk-jr-samoa-measles-outbreak/

Kakistocracy বলেছেন...

@ Jamie: Research shows no causal link between Tylenol and autism:

Autism risk disappeared when comparing pairs of siblings.
Because siblings share genetics and typically grow up in similar environments, sibling studies are thought to be more accurate and have a smaller risk of external factors skewing the results.

This study’s findings suggest that in previous analyses, there were likely other variables that distorted the results. For example, the current study found that parents who have neurodevelopmental disorders are more likely to use acetaminophen during pregnancy. Children of these parents are also more likely to a neurodevelopment disorder; however, this is not necessarily due to their exposure to acetaminophen, but rather due to the high heritability of these disorders.
https://www.autismspeaks.org/science-news/tylenol-and-autism

RFK Jr insists on ignoring the studies that don’t suit his preconceptions.

n.n বলেছেন...

Vaccine hesitancy is a side-effect of mandated vaxxxines and jabs with uninformed dictation.

TeaBagHag বলেছেন...

Who could have possibly predicted that a tin foil hatted, heroin addict with a brain worm would be a poor choice for this role?

Kakistocracy বলেছেন...

No medication is 100% benign. But neither are herbal remedies or belief systems.

Bunkypotatohead বলেছেন...

Just nine months to flatten the curve.

n.n বলেছেন...

Mount Sinai Study Supports Evidence That Prenatal Acetaminophen Use May Be Linked to Increased Risk of Autism and ADHD

Acetaminophen is known to cross the placental barrier and may trigger oxidative stress, disrupt hormones, and cause epigenetic changes that interfere with fetal brain development.

The probable "link".

n.n বলেছেন...

Pregnant women should not stop taking medication without consulting their doctors,” Dr. Prada emphasized. “Untreated pain or fever can also harm the baby. Our study highlights the importance of discussing the safest approach with health care providers and considering non-drug options whenever possible.”

With diagnoses of autism and ADHD increasing worldwide, these findings have significant implications for public health policy, clinical guidelines, and patient education.

Grundoon বলেছেন...

We might wait until RFK Jr. releases a report before we discuss its conclusions. I suspect the conclusions won't be easily summarized in a headline.
I am kind of tired of studies claiming things like "we studied 2.5 million children" as anything special. If I remember my statistics class, a sample of 30 is often enough to draw a conclusion of a probability. Headline writers eat up big numbers and alarming words as important, but life is not so simple.
I am also tired of studies of studies being presented as a way to purify the truth, like refining gold from ore. Garbage in, garbage out.

Inga বলেছেন...


“Pregnant women should not stop taking medication without consulting their doctors,” Dr. Prada emphasized. “Untreated pain or fever can also harm the baby. Our study highlights the importance of discussing the safest approach with health care providers and considering non-drug options whenever possible.“

Like with most meds the dose makes a big difference when it comes to adverse effect, hopefully taking a Tylenol for fever once in great while wouldn’t cause any harm, but now pregnant women have one more thing to worry about.

Craig Mc বলেছেন...

Given that over-the-counter pain-killers are not controlled - how can you prove either way that they're contributing to autism?

Autism was around long before tylenol. Has it increased since? And exactly how do you quantify autism anyway?

Bring on the Voight-Kampff tests!

n.n বলেছেন...

"Statistical analysis allows us to put limits on our uncertainty, but not to prove anything.”—Douglas G. Altman

Yancey Ward বলেছেন...

There is only one way to prove/disprove the conjecture about acetominophen- you run double-blind studies on pregnant women and babies.

Good luck getting such a study approved anywhere in the U.S.

Chris বলেছেন...

No one here remembers the huge Reyes syndrome scare in the 70s? I lost a friend in elementary school to it. Aspirin was the culpret in certain viral infection scenarios. That was killing children not giving them autism. But now we don't give aspirin to children when they have a viral infection.

mikee বলেছেন...

Kennedy has no idea what he is doing, and neither do the crazy conspiracists he has let loose upon the public. May God have mercy on him, because nobody else will.

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