The autism community has its factions and disputes, but yesterday most of them agreed on one thing: The press conference held Monday by President Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS)—in which they claimed that autism was linked to Tylenol use by pregnant women—was an abomination.
Paul Offit, head of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and a board member of the Autism Science Foundation, called it “arguably the most irresponsible public health press conference in history.”
Emily Oster, the CEO of ParentData, who has written frequently about childhood autism, said, “If you look at what they announced, it’s difficult to ignore the drumbeat of every single expert, every professional society—every person who knows about autism knows that the idea that Tylenol causes autism is not well-supported by the data. I mean, they’re really out on the fringe here.”
Holden Thorp, editor in chief of Science magazine—who is himself on the lower end of the autism spectrum—told me that the comments made by the president and the HHS secretary were “misinformed and destructive.”
And Laurie Cameron, the co-founder and executive director of The Extended Family, which provides support services for autistic adults—and who has a profoundly autistic 34-year-old son—said that the press conference “made me so sad. They kept saying how hard it was to watch autistic kids when they get frustrated. It broke my heart to hear that because these are beautiful human beings.”
Over the years, Trump and his officials have said many irresponsible things during press conferences. (Remember when the president suggested during a press conference in 2020 that health officials look into injecting a disinfectant to cure Covid?) So what was it about these remarks in particular that people in the autism community found so offensive?
Let us count the ways.
