The White House is reviving an 8-year-old corporate tweet to bolster Donald Trump’s claims that Tylenol use during pregnancy can cause autism in children.
On Wednesday, an administration official with control of the White House’s X account shared a 2017 post from the official Tylenol account that read: “We actually don’t recommend using any of our products while pregnant. Thank you for taking the time to voice your concerns today.”
The message was quickly picked up across MAGA channels online, with supporters claiming it validated Trump’s latest comments linking the common over-the-counter medication to developmental disorders.
“This is a post from 2017,” conservative commentator Joey Mannarino pointed out, adding, “Liberal women, please take as many Tylenols during pregnancy as possible. Prove Trump wrong, ok?”
What the celebratory respondents failed to notice is that other posts from Tylenol’s X account—as well as the broader science—contradict their new cause célèbre.
One post showed that consumption during pregnancy is safe, for example, and said it is just suggested that a person’s doctor be notified.
“Thanks for the shout out Carrie! Just make sure to talk to your doctor before taking Tylenol while you’re pregnant. Thanks again,” the company had also responded in 2017 to a consumer who lauded the drug for being “pregnancy safe.”
(On the medication’s packaging, this suggestion is repeated: “If pregnant or breast-feeding, ask a health professional before use,” it reads.)
This comes after Trump, 79, said that his administration had found links between autism and Tylenol use by pregnant women. “With Tylenol, don’t take it. Don’t take it,” Trump insisted in a jaw-dropping presser on Tuesday.
U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, a licensed physician whose support was pivotal at RFK Jr.’s confirmation as Secretary of Health and Human Services, immediately contradicted the president in an X post.
“I understand and applaud President Trump’s desire to address this issue and to support HHS. HHS should release the new data that it has to support this claim. The preponderance of evidence shows that this is not the case,” he said.
He wasn’t the only expert to bemoan Trump’s words. Ann Bauer, a researcher who studies Tylenol and autism whose research was cited by the White House, told KFF Health News that her message was being misrepresented by the MAHA movement.
She said she is “sick to my stomach” that RFK Jr. would link her work to discredited theories about autism.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has said that the drug, used to treat fever and mild to moderate pain, is one of the only safe pain relievers for pregnant women. But Trump and his health experts insist its active ingredient—acetaminophen—is linked to “skyrocketing rates of autism.”
The maker of Tylenol has pointed to the science clearly showing that acetaminophen does not cause autism. “We strongly disagree with any suggestion otherwise,” Kenvue said in a statement on Tuesday.