By Jeremiah Love —
Such is the derangement of Trump haters that when the NIH, the HHS and the FDA together recommended avoiding Tylenol while pregnant, a number of pregnant mothers filmed themselves downing pills to defy Trump’s warning that it increased risk of autism.
“You’re weaponizing your pregnancy to own Trump,” mocked Dana Loesch, a conservative podcaster. “Parent of the year, there.”
The rise in autism in recent years is the great mystery. Many in the scientific community claim that vaccines are not the culprit, but the current secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is skeptical. Many thought that a second Trump administration would clear up the confusion as his people would have access to the reams of data stored in government offices.
In September, Trump announced that a major suspect would be identified, and people waited with baited breath. They may have been disappointed because vaccines were not considered a major factor, though RFK recommended spacing them out and not overloading newborns.
Come the day, Sept. 22, Tylenol took the hit. There’s a correlation in data between Tylenol use during pregnancy and autism. Many scientists separately added that “correlation” is not “causation.” In other words, a definitive link has not been established yet in rigorous scientific studies.
Trump-hating pregnant mothers took to the internet. Tauntingly, MichelleVuMD downed some Tylenol while pregnant: “Twenty eight weeks pregnant. You know what I’m going to take?” she says in a self-posted video. She takes the bottle of Tylenol in her hand, opens it, pops one in her mouth and with water apparently downed it.
“It’s going to work like a charm, and my baby won’t have autism,” she says, smiling cockily.
The Trump administration says there were 1 in 10,000 cases of autism 18 years ago, compared to 1 in 31 children today (with 1 in 20 boys affected). The jump represents a 400% increase, officials said.
Trump said that the Amish have lower rates of autism. A 2010 study screening 1,899 Amish children in Ohio and Indiana found a prevalence of approximately 1 in 271, roughly one-third the national rate at the time (and even lower relative to today’s figures). The Amish don’t avoid Tylenol altogether, but they prioritize natural remedies, herbal treatments and a stoic approach to pain.
In a tweet in 2017, the Tylenol brand said “We actually don’t recommend using any of our products while pregnant. Thank you for taking the time to voice your concerns today.” But they later clarified that the tweet was taken out of context and you should consult your healthcare provider.
At stake also is liability of the pharmaceutical company, formerly Johnson & Johnson, now Kenvue as of 2023, can be found culpable in lawsuits, given the ambiguous data. In October of this year, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a high-profile state suit against Johnson & Johnson and Kenvue, accusing them of deceptively marketing Tylenol to pregnant people and failing to warn about alleged autism/ADHD risks.
But such is the so-called Trump Derangement Syndrome, where people are irrationally opposed to anything Trump says or does. If Trump were to say the sky is blue, these people would shout with rage on video that it is clearly green.
“Even if there was a 0.5% chance of something happening to your baby negatively, are you going to go out there and hate Trump more than you love your baby and actually eat a bunch of Tylenol while you’re pregnant?” said (presumably) Dana’s producer off camera on her podcast.
Trump’s announcement of the dangers of Tylenol was backed up by the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health and the Health and Human Services Department.
Sources: Dana Loesch, others.
