Trump and RFK Jr. Blamed Tylenol for Autism. The Science Doesn’t Back Them Up.

OMG - YOU GUYS! YOU ARE NEVAH GONNA BELIEVE THIS!

In case you missed it, this afternoon, Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stood in the Roosevelt Room and delivered what the president called one of the biggest announcements, really, medically, I think, in the history of our country. Their earth-shattering revelation? Taking Tylenol while pregnant is linked to autism!

The only problem is - the best science says it isn’t!

A 2024 Swedish study looking at 2.5 million births found no causal link between prenatal acetaminophen use and autism once genetics were factored in. None. The broader medical consensus is the same: acetaminophen is still considered safe during pregnancy when used as directed. So this isn’t medicine - its politics dressed up as science.

The other half of the spectacle was Trump announcing that the FDA had started approving leucovorin. He hyped it as an autism treatment, but the label actually applies to cerebral folate deficiency - a rare condition that sometimes overlaps with autism symptoms. The clinical evidence for leucovorin in autism is weak. Were talking about tiny improvements on parent rating scales that don’t translate into meaningful changes in real life.

And then comes the money trail. In his financial filings when he started working for the government - Dr. Mehmet Oz disclosed between $5 and $25 million in stock in iHerb - a supplement company that sells folinic acid products, which is a form of what leucovorin actually is. Oz pledged to sell that stake within 90 days of taking the job, and iHerb says he has - but the company he used to advise still sells the supplement version. The FDAs label change now opens the door for insurance and Medicaid programs to cover leucovorin in certain cases, and Oz, who runs Medicare and Medicaid, said on the spot that Medicaid will cover it with a prescription.

The scam here isn’t complicated. Blame mothers for autism again - just like the refrigerator mother theory, just like the vaccine panic - then present the miracle cure. Its medical theater designed to create fear and sell a solution. And the cruelest part is that it preys on the desperation of parents who just want something to help their kids.

The reality is autism diagnoses are rising in large part because doctors are finally getting better at identifying it and the definition got wider, not because Tylenol suddenly turned toxic. The genetics are overwhelming. Hundreds of genes are involved. Autism isn’t something you fix with a pill, and its not a crisis in need of a quick-fix supplement scheme. What actually improves lives is acceptance, support, and resources - not funneling public money into the next miracle cure.

So the announcement wasnt a medical breakthrough. It was a con - one that makes public health policy look like a late-night infomercial.

Correction, September 28th, 2026: This essay first said Dr. Oz’s company profits from the supplement version of leucovorin, that Medicaid coverage could boost his investment portfolio and that he had financial ties to the cure - Oz pledged to sell his iHerb stake within 90 days of taking the job, iHerb says he has divested, and the administration is recommending prescription leucovorin, not supplements.

Update, September 28th, 2026: The headline and a few lines now say Trump and RFK Jr. linked Tylenol in pregnancy to autism and that the best science says there’s no link, that the FDA had started approving leucovorin that day, and that autism diagnoses are rising in large part because of better recognition and wider definitions.