Tylenol caplets are displayed on September 22, 2025 in San Anselmo, California.
Photograph Illustration by Justin Sullivan/Getty Photographs
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Photograph Illustration by Justin Sullivan/Getty Photographs
This week, President Trump urged pregnant girls to “powerful it out” and take Tylenol sparingly on the premise that there is a hyperlink between the energetic ingredient within the ache killer, acetaminophen, and autism.
Medical consultants have strongly pushed back on the steerage, arguing that such claims are deceptive and analysis exhibits there’s no causal link between acetaminophen and autism. The Meals and Drug Administration additionally later clarified that “whereas an affiliation between acetaminophen and autism has been described in lots of research, a causal relationship has not been established and there are opposite research within the scientific literature.”
Nonetheless, the remarks on Monday sparked confusion, fear and guilt amongst pregnant girls and households with youngsters who’ve autism. Medical students say it is a part of a sample within the historical past of medication and autism analysis.
“ We actually have a protracted historical past of blaming moms on this nation, and we’re seeing that strengthened by the narratives round autism’s causes proper now,” mentioned Martine Lappé, a sociology professor at California Polytechnic State College, San Luis Obispo, who has studied how autism science and advocacy have affected households.
Autism spectrum dysfunction, as it’s formally known as, is a posh neurodevelopmental situation, with a variety of traits and help ranges. There are greater than 100 genes related to it. Traditionally, efforts to discover a singular trigger for autism has led to scrutinizing mother and father and fueling stigma about autism, Lappé added.
Within the mid-Twentieth century, working mothers had been wrongly related to autism
Within the Forties, not lengthy after autism was acknowledged as a definite situation, blame rapidly fell on moms — particularly these with careers or school levels.
The main baby psychiatrist on the time, Leo Kanner, noticed that a lot of his younger sufferers with autism had moms who had been extremely educated or working professionals, and in addition appeared emotionally chilly. Kanner concluded {that a} lack of parental heat drove youngsters to retreat into behaviors related to autism, in what later grew to become often known as the “fridge mother” principle.
“ A chilly mom, on the time, just about meant an mental mom, a mom who had different pursuits apart from elevating her youngsters,” mentioned Marga Vicedo, a historian of science on the College of Toronto, Canada, who has revealed a e-book on the historical past of the “fridge mother” principle.
Based on Vicedo, the variety of educated moms in Kanner’s research may have been defined by different elements, like the truth that a lot of them got here from middle-to-upper class backgrounds, the place increased training was extra widespread.
Nonetheless, the idea grew in recognition — partly as a result of it emerged amid rising tensions between girls coming into the workforce and societal strain for ladies to return to conventional roles at residence within the post-World Struggle II period.
“On the finish of day, saying it is a mom’s fault is a really robust and highly effective means of retaining moms as the principle caretakers,” she mentioned.
The “fridge mother” principle had devastating impacts on moms — fueling disgrace, guilt and even dangerous practices. Within the Sixties, baby psychoanalyst Bruno Bettelheim advocated for separating autistic youngsters from their moms, in line with Vicedo.
Over time, as analysis more and more pointed to genetics as a significant component in autism, the idea was discredited. Dad and mom and particularly moms additionally grew to become extra vocal in difficult claims that they had been responsible.
At present, Vicedo mentioned she sees parallels between the rhetoric round “fridge mothers” and “Tylenol” — primarily within the tendency to pin autism on a singular trigger, regardless of its complexity.
“The continued give attention to what moms do locations an incredible burden and plenty of stress on them,” she mentioned.
Vaccine skepticism and the tendency to oversimplify autism
A number of many years after the “fridge mother” principle was debunked, a brand new offender was entrance and middle: vaccines.
In 1998, researcher Andrew Wakefield claimed there was a hyperlink between autism and the vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella, also referred to as the MMR vaccine.
Wakefield’s examine has since been retracted, his declare has been repeatedly disproven and he misplaced his medical license within the U.Ok. However that course of took time and assets which may have gone towards different autism analysis, in line with Lappé from Cal Poly.
Just like the “fridge mother” principle, Lappé mentioned the vaccine autism fantasy positioned an excessive amount of give attention to mother and father’ decisions for a situation that is largely genetic and multi-faceted.
“Moms, I believe, felt plenty of particular person blame and duty if their youngsters did have autism,” she mentioned.
Based on Lappé, these deceptive narratives on causation additionally take consideration away from extra significant and productive conversations, like entry to healthcare, childcare and analysis that promotes neurodiversity.
“ If the objective is actually to advertise well being and wellness, then we’d like insurance policies that help what we all know moms and caregivers want,” she mentioned.
Tylenol and the strain to ‘powerful it out’
Medical consultants and students fear that the latest claims about Tylenol put pregnant girls and households in a tough bind.
“ It actually places girls and moms and medical suppliers on this actually difficult scenario as a result of girls at the moment are being instructed differing tales from totally different people,” mentioned Dr. Rachel Follmer, a developmental and behavioral pediatrician at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Kids’s Hospital of Chicago, who sees sufferers with autism.
Follmer can be nervous that pregnant girls may keep away from treating ache altogether to avoid Tylenol, which is the most commonly recommended ache reliever throughout being pregnant. Ignoring fevers or ache can even pose severe well being dangers, Follmer added.
Based on the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, an “untreated fever, significantly within the first trimester, will increase the chance of miscarriage, start defects, and untimely start.”
Sarah Richardson, a professor of the historical past of science, in addition to research of ladies, gender and sexuality at Harvard College, mentioned the remarks about Tylenol additionally put girls able to be scrutinized, like whether or not they’re doing sufficient or sacrificing sufficient for his or her youngsters.
“ We dwell in an period of intensive strain round parenting and expectations that one will do no matter potential to optimize end result,” she mentioned. “And there is little or no tolerance for the concept there are a lot of issues not beneath our management.”
