ย Barack Obama is the latest to have reacted to Donald Trumpโs astounding claim that Tylenol is to blame for the increase in autism diagnoses in the US over the past few decades.
It was at Sundayโs memorial for political activist Charlie Kirk that the current POTUS teased a bombshell announcement to come on Monday. โI think we found an answer to autism,โ Trump told the tens of thousands in attendance at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
His detractors around the world likely rolled their eyes in that moment, wondering what would come from the press conference scheduled for the following day. Trump promised it would be โone of the most important news conferencesโ he ever had.
Whether thatโs true or not only time will tell, but it was certainly one of the most controversial, and that โ as it relates to Trump โ says a hell of a lot.
Flanked by RFK Jr., U.S. Departmentย Secretary of Health and Human Services, Trump outlined a clear link between acetaminophen (known by its brand name, Tylenol) and autism in children.
Trump said that โeffective immediatelyโ the Food and Drug Administration โwill be notifying physicians that the use of acetaminophen,โ commonly sold under the brand name Tylenol, โduring pregnancy can be associated with a very increased risk of autism.โ
Rather worryingly, the POTUS also said he was dispensing vaccine advice based onย โcommon senseโย andย โwhat I feelโ. Scientifically speaking, no link between acetaminophen and Autism Spectrum Disorders currently exists, leading to a good amount of backlash following Trumpโs announcement.
That the president is ready to stand by his decision irrespective of how much it flies in the face of the information we currently know to be medically sound and reasonable is hardly surprising. The intensity with which he and RFK Jr. appear to be fixating on finding an โanswerโ to autism, however, is concerning to many.
That includes former president Barack Obama, who yesterday claimed that the current administrationโs new proposal posed a threat to public health.
โWe have the spectacle of my successor in the Oval Office making broad claims around certain drugs and autism that have been continuously disproved,โ Obama said during an interview at the O2 Arena in London.ย โIt undermines public health โฆ that can do harm to women.โ
Obama also labeled Trumpโs claim about Tylenol a โviolence against the truthโ.
Obama has kept a relatively low profile since leaving the White House, though in recent times his output has increased in tandem with the political unrest and rise of apparent discontent in the US.
What do you make of Obamaโs comments on Trumpโs declaration? And what of said declaration itself? Let us know in the comments.
