US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, alongside President Donald Trump, has claimed that paracetamol use during pregnancy is linked to autism, without providing peer-reviewed evidence. The announcement, made from the White House, stated that the Food and Drug Administration would notify doctors about the potential risk. Critics have condemned the move as unscientific and dangerous.
Kennedy, a prominent vaccine conspiracy theorist, has long questioned medical consensus. His appointment as head of the Department of Health and Human Services was opposed by 17,000 doctors who signed a letter calling him unqualified. Despite this, he now oversees an agency with a nearly two trillion-dollar budget.
The claims were part of the Make America Healthy Again (Maha) report, which also raised unfounded concerns about vaccines and autism. Medical experts have said the report stretches the limits of science, with some cited studies found not to exist. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt acknowledged the error but defended the report as transformative.
Dr Craig Spencer of Brown University described the press conference as the worst he had ever seen. Critics argue that Kennedy's approach encourages rejection of scientific evidence in favour of internet research, undermining public health.
