唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)总统漫无边际地即兴发表了一项声明，旨在警告孕妇在儿童中使用泰诺和自闭症之间可能存在的联系，他的评论超出了现有的科学证据，甚至超出了他自己的卫生部门的语言。
他明确表示，他知道自己有时是在为自己说话。
“你知道，我只是从我的角度来做这些陈述，”他一度说道。“我不是从这些医生那里得出这些结论，因为当他们谈论不同的结果、不同的研究时，我谈论了很多常识。”
特朗普的言论偏离了他的卫生机构在随后的新闻稿和专栏文章中提供的更有分寸的指导。
“不要服用泰诺，”在周二长达一小时的活动中，他多次大声说道。
“你会不舒服的。也许不会那么容易。但是如果你怀孕了就不要服用。不要吃泰诺，”他说。
在泰诺制造商Kenvue的一份声明中，该公司表示，它相信研究表明对乙酰氨基酚不会导致自闭症。
“我们强烈反对任何相反的建议，并深切关注这对孕妇造成的健康风险，”声明中写道。“对乙酰氨基酚是孕妇在整个孕期所需的最安全的止痛药。如果没有它，女性将面临危险的选择:忍受发烧等对母亲和婴儿都有潜在危害的疾病，或者使用风险更高的替代品。”
主要医疗团体立即对特朗普的说法进行了反击，指出泰诺被认为是怀孕期间唯一安全的止痛药，并指出怀孕期间未经治疗的疼痛和发烧可能带来的危险，包括更高的死产风险。
特朗普告诉孕妇，他们应该“尽全力不要服用”这种用于治疗孕妇发烧的药物，承认“可能会有一个你必须要做的点，你必须自己解决这个问题。”
尽管Trump说得简单明了，但是，关于Tylenol和自闭症的证据还没有完全形成，这是食品药品监督管理局在周二的新闻稿中陈述的事实。
“值得注意的是，尽管许多研究都描述了对乙酰氨基酚和神经系统疾病之间的联系，但因果关系尚未建立，科学文献中有相反的研究，”该机构在新闻稿中说，该机构宣布将推动对乙酰氨基酚的标签变更，对乙酰氨基酚是泰诺的主要成分。
与此同时，在政治的一篇联合专栏文章中，美国食品和药物管理局、美国国家卫生研究院(National Institutes of Health)和医疗保险和医疗补助服务中心(Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services)的负责人写道，他们“认识到文献在继续发展，来自家庭控制研究的证据未能找到相关性。”
“此外，对乙酰氨基酚是唯一被批准用于治疗怀孕期间发烧的非处方药，怀孕妈妈的高烧也可能对她们未出生的孩子造成风险，如神经管缺陷，”他们补充道。
美国妇产科医师学会(ACOG)警告说，政府的说法是“不负责任的”，可能会吓走怀孕的患者，使他们不敢服用该药物，即使从医学角度来说这是谨慎的。
“HHS今天的声明没有充分的科学证据支持，并且危险地简化了儿童神经系统挑战的许多复杂原因。ACOG总裁Steven J. Fleischman博士在事先准备好的发言中说:“我们的联邦卫生机构在没有可靠数据支持的情况下，愿意做出影响数百万人健康和福祉的声明，这令人非常不安。”。
周二，特朗普不时表示，童年接种疫苗可能会导致自闭症，这一理论一直由他的卫生部长小罗伯特·F·肯尼迪推广，但被研究人员质疑。
“我不是医生，但我给出了我的意见，”他说。
“疫苗不会导致自闭症，”特朗普发表讲话后，美国家庭医生学会发表声明说。“数十年的严格研究未能提供可信的科学证据将疫苗与自闭症联系起来。疫苗是我们拥有的保持人们，尤其是婴儿和儿童健康和远离医院的最有效工具之一。继续声称疫苗与自闭症有联系会导致人们因恐惧而推迟或推迟疫苗接种，从而危及公共健康。
'I'm giving my opinion': Trump deviates from scientific evidence, own FDA, in autism remarks
As President Donald Trump rambled and ad-libbed through an announcement meant to caution pregnant women about the possible links between the use of Tylenol and autism in children, his comments went beyond the available scientific evidence, and even the language of his own health department.
He made clear he was aware he was, at times, speaking for himself.
"You know, I'm just making these statements from me," he said at one point. "I'm not making them from these doctors, because when they talk about different results, different studies, I talk a lot about common sense."
Trump's remarks deviated from the more measured guidance offered by his health agencies in subsequent news releases and op-eds.
"Don't take Tylenol," he boomed multiple times during the hour-long event on Tuesday.
"You'll be uncomfortable. It won't be as easy, maybe. But don't take it if you're pregnant. Don't take Tylenol," he said.
In a statement from Kenvue, the maker of Tylenol, the company said it believes research shows that acetaminophen does not cause autism.
"We strongly disagree with any suggestion otherwise and are deeply concerned with the health risk this poses for expecting mothers," the statement read. "Acetaminophen is the safest pain reliever option for pregnant women as needed throughout their entire pregnancy. Without it, women face dangerous choices: suffer through conditions like fever that are potentially harmful to both mom and baby or use riskier alternatives."
Major medical groups immediately pushed back on Trump's claims, pointing out Tylenol is considered the only safe painkiller during pregnancy, and pointing out the possible dangers of untreated pain and fever during pregnancy, including a higher risk of stillbirth.
Trump told pregnant women they should "fight like hell not to take" the drug, used to treat fevers in pregnant women, acknowledging that "there may be a point where you have to, and you'll have to work that out with yourself."
As blunt and simple as Trump made it sound, however, the evidence around Tylenol and autism is not yet fully formed, a fact stated by the Food and Drug Administration in a press release Tuesday.
"It is important to note that while an association between acetaminophen and neurological conditions has been described in many studies, a causal relationship has not been established and there are contrary studies in the scientific literature," the agency said in the press release, which announced it would push for a label change for acetaminophen, Tylenol's main ingredient.
Meanwhile, in a joint op-ed in Politico, the heads of the FDA, the National Institutes of Health and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, wrote that they "recognize the literature continues to evolve and evidence from family control studies have failed to find a correlation."
"Furthermore, acetaminophen is the only over-the-counter medication approved to treat fevers during pregnancy, and high fevers in pregnant moms can pose a risk to their unborn child as well, such as neural tube defects," they added.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) warned the administration's claims were "irresponsible" and could scare pregnant patients away from taking the drug, even when it's medically prudent.
"Today's announcement by HHS is not backed by the full body of scientific evidence and dangerously simplifies the many and complex causes of neurologic challenges in children. It is highly unsettling that our federal health agencies are willing to make an announcement that will affect the health and well-being of millions of people without the backing of reliable data," said Dr. Steven J. Fleischman, ACOG president, in prepared remarks.
At times on Tuesday, Trump suggested that childhood vaccinations could contribute to autism, a theory long promoted by his health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, but which has been discredited by researchers.
"I'm not a doctor, but I'm giving my opinion," he said.
"Vaccines do not cause autism," read a statement from the American Academy of Family Physicians in the wake of Trump's remarks. "Decades of rigorous research have failed to provide credible scientific evidence linking vaccines to autism. Vaccines are among the most effective tools we have to keep people, especially infants and children, healthy and out of hospitals. Continued claims about a vaccine-autism link risk public health by causing people to delay or defer vaccination out of fear."
