President Donald Trump on Monday used the platform of the presidency to promote unproven and in some cases discredited ties between Tylenol, vaccines and autism as his administration announced a wide-ranging effort to study the causes of the complex brain disorder.

 

Speaking Monday from the White House, the president said women should not take acetaminophen, also known by the brand name Tylenol, “during the entire pregnancy.”

 

Dr. Steven Fleischman, ACOG President, said in an interview with The Associated Press that there are concerns with the administration pinpoint acetaminophen.

 

“To pin it all on a medication like acetaminophen is just hard to believe. Primarily, because there are so many reasons people take acetaminophen in pregnancy,” Fleischman said.

 

Fleischman had a message for parents, too.

 

“For patients who are pregnant now, who maybe took some acetaminophen early in pregnancy because they had a fever or they had another reason to take it, you needed to take that medication. Not taking it, not treating the fever probably has more adverse effects that you need to worry about than taking the medication,” Fleischman said.

Responding to Trump’s warnings, the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine said they still recommend Tylenol as an appropriate option to treat fever and pain during pregnancy.

Tylenol maker Kenvue disputed any link between the drug and autism on Monday and said in a statement that if pregnant mothers don’t use Tylenol when in need, they could face a dangerous choice between suffering fevers or using riskier painkiller alternatives. Shares of Kenvue Inc. fell 7.5% in trading Monday, reducing the company’s market value by about $2.6 billion.

 

The Trump administration has been under immense pressure from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s diverse Make America Healthy Again movement to provide answers on the causes of the marked increase in autism cases in the U.S. in recent years.