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Trump Links Tylenol to Autism. Here’s What Doctors Have to Say

(skhoward / iStock)

At a news conference last week, President Donald Trump, joined by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., linked Tylenol use during pregnancy to rising autism rates in children. The president urged pregnant women to avoid the longtime household medicine and warned against giving it to infants.

The announcement has drawn sharp pushback from many in the scientific and medical communities, which dispute Trump’s claims. The Trump administration cited three studies from Harvard University, Johns Hopkins and Mount Sinai, which found correlations between autism and Tylenol. 

What doctors say: 

Researchers like Dr. Kirstin Rosseau, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Chicago, have questioned how broadly the studies can be applied, emphasizing the distinction between correlation and causation.

“The issue is that there have been studies that have come out in both directions,” Rousseau said. “When we look at the ones where they do find a link, the studies are often underpowered. And then the other big issue with a lot of these, it’s methodology, methodological concerns or problems. So then we run into correlation versus causation.”

Trump said there are “no downsides” for pregnant mothers who avoid Tylenol and that mothers should “tough out” symptoms like fever. But many medical professionals warn that mothers who avoid Tylenol for fear of putting their child at an increased risk of autism may instead be putting their own health at risk.

Dr. Melissa Simon, the vice chair for research in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University, said Tylenol is a necessary pain reliever for pregnant mothers. 

“Having a fever and just toughing it out is unacceptable in pregnancy,” Simon said, “and can lead to far more harm than taking Tylenol to relieve the fever. The same thing with pain, toughing it out — the president nor other people who are telling women who are pregnant should just tough it out with respect to fever and pain have not been pregnant. Tylenol is considered the safest over-the-counter choice when treating either a fever or pain.”

Baby Fish Shed New Light on Health of the Chicago River in First-of-Its-Kind Study

Research biologist Austin Happel checks a light trap for signs of larval fish in the Chicago River. (Courtesy of Shedd Aquarium)

The Chicago River has proven itself fit for swimming. But what about raising a family?

Fifty years ago, only five to 10 hardy species of fish were living in the river. Today, after much work to clean up the waterway, more than 70 species of adult fish have been recorded via surveys conducted by entities including the Illinois Department of Nature Resources and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District.

Yet no one’s ever tallied the number of larval fish in the waterway, at least not that Austin Happel, research biologist at Shedd Aquarium, could find, so he set about establishing a baseline.

The presence of larval (baby) fish would indicate a couple of things about the river’s health, Happel said. One, it would suggest adults were present in enough abundance to reproduce. Two, it would demonstrate the fish were finding habitat conducive to their particular spawning needs.

To get a sense of the larval fish population, Happel and his team stationed light traps at 10 sites spread up and down the river’s North and South Branches. From 2020 through 2022, traps were checked weekly from late May through August.

What they found: 

The findings were recently published in the Journal of Great Lakes Research, revealing 24 different species of larvae, a number Happel considered a positive sign that “populations are proliferating locally within the river.”

There were a few surprises, though, both in terms of which species were revealed and where they were found. As expected, the survey turned up species that are pollution-tolerant, but also, unexpectedly, a couple of species that aren’t — specifically brook silverside and mimic shiner. These were present in the South Branch, but not the North.

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Centro Sanar Connects Southwest Siders to Free Mental Health Care: ‘It’s Been Life-Changing’

Centro Sanar offers free bilingual mental health services. (WTTW News)

The demand for mental health services has reached an all-time high, particularly in Brown and Black communities that often lack access to these resources. On the Southwest Side along West 51st Street is Centro Sanar, which translates to “Heal Center.”

Edwin Martinez is one of the co-founders of the clinic, which provides free mental health services. He started the work in 2020, initially volunteering at Centro Sanar while still working elsewhere and caring for his baby.

Martinez believes in the mission of providing wellness support to Latino communities that often lack access to therapy because of insurance barriers.

“In terms of what folks need, it’s an array of support that centers their own healing journeys — whether that be individual therapy, couples therapy, family therapy,” Martinez said. “I’m thinking about culturally specific high-quality mental health care, and that tends to be inaccessible for folks.”

Centro Sanar began five years ago as a grassroots initiative launched by local mental health providers. It focuses on helping people break through their complex traumas using different techniques.

More from WTTW News: 

• Weiss Memorial Hospital was kicked off the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) program in August after federal health officials discovered hospital conditions violated federal regulations. Now, the owner has filed an appeal of the decision that led to the hospital’s closure last month.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

Back in the Day: September 29, 1982 - Chicago Tylenol Murders

On this day 43 years ago, a 12-year-old Elk Grove Village girl named Mary Kellerman took a Tylenol to treat a sore throat and a runny nose. Hours later, she was dead. Unbeknownst to her and her mother, the pill was laced with the highly poisonous potassium cyanide. Over the next few days, six more people, all from the Chicago area, were killed under similar circumstances. The deaths rocked the nation. Tylenol’s manufacturer immediately issued a massive recall of more than 31 million bottles of Tylenol in circulation. While Johnson & Johnson established that the Tylenol bottles were contaminated after leaving the factory, and police guessed that someone had swapped pills while they were on store shelves, to date, no perpetrator has been caught, and no motive has been established. As a PBS story points out, the murders did change how medicine is packaged and distributed with "new tamper-proof packaging, which included foil seals and other features that made it obvious to a consumer if foul play had transpired." The next episode of "Chicago Stories" will explore the murders. "Inside the Tylenol Murders" airs this Friday at 8 p.m. on WTTW. 

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This Week’s Civic Events and Meetings

Every Monday, WTTW News highlights the best ways to get involved with local government. 

Show Up Chicago 

On Monday at 7 p.m., head to the Hideout for a roundtable discussion on housing issues with Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th Ward) and journalist Richard Day. It’s a free event, but details can be found here.

City Council's Committee on Workforce Development 

On Tuesday at 10:15 a.m., the City Council’s Committee on Workforce Development will hold a subject matter hearing on the citywide strategy for youth employment. Details can be found here. 

City Council's Committee on Ethics and Government Oversight

On Wednesday at 10 a.m., the City Council’s Committee on Ethics and Government Oversight will hold a regular meeting to talk about 2025’s Q2 quarterly report and an audit of the Chicago Department of Public Health’s Mental Health Equity Initiative. Details, location and instruction for public comment can be found here. 

What's the best steakhouse in the Chicago area? Tell us where and why. 

Email DailyChicagoan@wttw.com with your responses and your answers might be published.

• A WTTW News special on policing in Chicago. We explore the high cost of misconduct lawsuits and where things stand with the consent decree.

5:30 PM | 10:00 PM

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Newsletter Producer: Josh Terry