Surrounded by multiple supporters, President Donald Trump announced on Monday that pregnant women should not take Tylenol due to unproven evidence that the drug is linked to autism (“Trump makes unfounded claims about Tylenol,” Sept. 22).
This announcement is based on a marked increase in the incidence of autism, even though decades of science into the genetics and environmental factors that can play a role indicate there is no medical evidence that Tylenol plays a role.
My question is whether data has shown how many women took Tylenol during pregnancy and how frequently they took it? Of those women, what was the frequency of autism?
Instead of causing pregnant women possibly unwarranted anxiety, how about looking at the role men may play in the incidence of autism? Studies show that the risk increases with paternal age, starting with the age of 30 and rising over the age of 40. This risk has been due to accumulated genetic mutations in their sperm.
Before Tylenol is determined to be the culprit, shouldn’t there be more research into the possible roles of paternal age and genetics?
God bless pregnant women.
— Mary Ellen Stepowany, Baltimore