By Kevin Schofield

Copyright huffingtonpost

Wes Streeting has slammed Donald Trump’s claim that there is a link between paracetamol use during pregnancy and autism.

The health secretary told pregnant women not to “pay any attention whatsoever” to what the US president said.

He said they should “listen to British doctors, British scientists, the NHS”, all of whom insist paracetamol is safe to use.

Trump made the comments in the White House on Monday, despite being unable to provide any evidence to back them up.

Standing alongside his anti-vaccine health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, he said there had been a “meteoric rise” in cases of autism and suggested that paracetamol – which is called Tylenol in the US – is a potential cause.

“There are certain groups of people that don’t take vaccines and don’t take any pills, that have no autism,” the president claimed.

He said the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) would be notifying all US doctors with new guidance advising mothers-to-be not to use paracetamol during their pregnancy.

Medical experts on both sides of the Atlantic have criticised Trump and insisted that paracetamol is safe for pregnant women to use.

They were backed by Streeting, who told ITV’s Lorraine programme: “I’ve just got to be really clear about this: there is no evidence to link the use of paracetamol by pregnant women to autism in their children. None.

“In fact, a major study was done back in 2024 in Sweden, involving 2.4 million children, and it did not uphold those claims.

“So I would just say to people watching, don’t pay any attention whatsoever to what Donald Trump says about medicine. In fact, don’t take even take my word for it, as a politician – listen to British doctors, British scientists, the NHS.

“It’s really important that a time when you know there is scepticism – and I don’t think scepticism itself, asking questions is in itself a bad thing, by all means, ask questions – but we’ve got to follow medical science.”