Canada, Other Countries, Ignore Trump's Warning About Tylenol

The science showing a connection between autism and Tylenol is not settled.

Published: 9/29/2025, 10:56:21 AM EDT

Canada, Other Countries, Ignore Trump's Warning About Tylenol — Tylenol, containing acetaminophen, is on a shelf in a Walgreens in Oklahoma City, Okla. on Sept. 25, 2025

Despite warnings that the use of Tylenol during pregnancy can be associated with a "very increased risk of autism," as noted by President Donald Trump on Sept. 22, other countries, including Canada, are ignoring the warning and continuing to allow pregnant women to use the popular pain reliever.

Tylenol is a brand name for acetaminophen. The widely used over-the-counter pain relief medication is also known generically as paracetamol elsewhere.

"I want to say it like it is, don't take Tylenol. Don't take it," Trump said. "Other things that we recommend, or certainly I do anyway, is ... don't let them pump your baby up with the largest pile of stuff you've ever seen in your life," he said, referring to vaccines.

Health Canada maintains that as of September, there is "no conclusive evidence" that acetaminophen, as directed during pregnancy, causes autism or other neurodevelopmental disorders.

The Canadian health organization went on to remind Canadians that acetaminophen is commonly used to relieve pain and reduce fever and has been safely used by millions of Canadians for decades, including during pregnancy and while breastfeeding.

At last week's press conference, which included Health and Human Services Director Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Trump said that "taking Tylenol is not good" and to "fight like hell not to take it." He also urged pregnant women to "tough it out" if they are feeling unwell and that only a high fever should justify taking the commonly used drug.

But the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists identifies Tylenol as safe to take during pregnancy, and the Coalition of Autism Scientists said that the warnings from Trump and Kennedy regarding Tylenol are "highly irresponsible and potentially dangerous" because "the science is far more nuanced and uncertain."

"Secretary Kennedy's announcement will cause confusion and fear," said the group in a statement.

Trump's warning added that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will notify doctors about the dangers of Tylenol use during pregnancy because it contains acetaminophen, an ingredient that is toxic to the liver over time and can affect the growing fetus in a pregnant woman—potentially leading to the child developing autism, which, as of 2022, affects 1 in 31 children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In a 2016 report released by the Canadian government, the country called for stricter warnings on products that contain acetaminophen to draw attention to its liver toxicity.

And in 2009, the National Center for Biotechnology Information's National Library of Medicine reported that in the United States alone, liver failure caused by acetaminophen sends around 60,000 people to the hospital each year. Many of these people took a higher dose than recommended without realizing it, whether they took hidden sources of it or simply took their next dose too early.

Regarding autism, Dr. Zeyan Liew, of the Yale School of Public Health, said findings linking acetaminophen with autism are inconclusive.

"We do not know yet for sure whether acetaminophen causes autism," Liew said. "Multiple observational studies conducted across different populations have shown associations between frequent and long-term use of acetaminophen in pregnancy and some negative effects on a child’s neurodevelopment. However, not all studies are specific about autism."

Like the Canadian government, Australian medical officials are also skeptical of the American announcement regarding acetaminophen and pregnancy problems.

At the Kids Research Institute Australia, professor Andrew Whitehouse, the organization's deputy director, said the announcement from Trump and Kennedy was a "completely exaggerated reading of science."

"There is categorically no evidence in humans that taking (acetaminophen) during pregnancy is causal of the offspring developing autism," Whitehouse told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, adding that this autism-acetaminophen link is "weaponized as part of a culture war."

The European Union and World Health Organization have already dismissed the concerns over Tylenol and said acetaminophen is not problematic for pregnant women.

“Available evidence has found no link between the use of paracetamol during pregnancy and autism,” the EMA said in a statement, adding paracetamol could be used during pregnancy when needed, though at the lowest effective dose and frequency. On Monday, the United Kingdom's health regulator said that it was safe to use.

“The evidence remains inconsistent,” WHO spokesperson Tarik Jašarević told a Geneva press briefing when asked about a possible link between paracetamol use in pregnancy and autism.

The bottom line is that experts say there are multiple causes of autism, and the science showing a connection between autism and Tylenol is not settled.