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Donald Trump alarmed health professionals the world over this week when he claimed that taking paracetamol, or acetaminophen as it is known in the U.S., during pregnancy was linked to a child’s risk of autism. Experts immediately began debunking the president’s claims — with many citing the findings of a landmark 2024 paper from researchers at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden.
The authors of that paper – Renee Gardner, Brian Lee and Viktor H. Ahlqvist – wrote for The Conversation this week, explaining exactly why their research has been so integral in discrediting Trump’s claims.
Their study looked at over 2.5 million children born in Sweden between 1995 and 2019, tracking them for up to 26 years. They were also able to make direct comparisons between siblings — where one sibling had been exposed to paracetamol in the womb and one had not.
This powerful sibling design meant that their study — which is the largest conducted on the subject to date — was able to show that there’s no evidence that paracetamol use during pregnancy is linked with a child’s risk of autism.
“The idea that acetaminophen use during pregnancy causes autism simply isn’t supported by the best available science,” the authors conclude, “The greater danger is that alarmist messaging will discourage pregnant women from treating pain or fever – putting both themselves and their babies at risk.”
Elsewhere this week we have been keeping an eye on events at the United Nations and pondering why the Jolly Roger of the Straw Hat Pirates has become a potent global emblem of youth protest.
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