GENEVA: Neither the painkiller Tylenol nor vaccines have been shown to cause autism, the World Health Organisation said on Tuesday, following comments from the US president and his administration to the contrary.
President Donald Trump insisted on Monday that pregnant women should “tough it out” and avoid Tylenol due to an unproven link to autism and also urged major changes to the standard vaccines administered to babies.
Medical groups have long cited acetaminophen, or paracetamol -- the primary ingredient in Tylenol -- as among the safest painkillers to take during pregnancy.
WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic acknowledged that there had been some “observational studies that have suggested a possible association between prenatal exposure to acetaminophen or paracetamol and autism”.
