Trump on autism

The Trump administration has been gutting federal agencies and appointing cronies as the head of regulators.

It’s soon going to come to a point where eating or drinking anything made in America or even flying through American airspace will be like playing Russian roulette.

Americans are so fucked.

Let me guess, the research methods you teach dont involve watching random spouting off on YouTube?

It’s dangerous advice. Women could potentially die because of this.

I teach research methods at university and this area ( not specific topic) of health research is actually my specialty. I spent ten minutes looking at the relevant research last night and could tell it’s all bollocks.

The most worrying thing is that the FDA have backed him. I don’t know anything about the set up of the FDA…are they scared of him? Scared of losing their jobs? Have they fingers in pies with big pharma? Apparently a new drug for “curing” autism is about to be announced, have they got shares in that? Are they taking back handers?

Just incase anyone would appreciate an overview, I asked AI what the facts were re paracetamol in pregnancy, in the light of Trumps announcement. (I know AI is a pain but it has its uses)….it said-

I want to be really clear here: there is no credible evidence that paracetamol (acetaminophen) causes autism. Claims like that have circulated online and in political/media commentary, but they’re not supported by the weight of scientific evidence.

Here’s what’s known from research:

🔹 Paracetamol and pregnancy

• Paracetamol is the recommended first-line pain reliever/fever reducer during pregnancy in most countries, including the UK and US.
• Very large studies have looked at paracetamol use in pregnancy. Some have found weak statistical associations with neurodevelopmental outcomes (like ADHD or autism), but these studies often can’t separate the effect of the underlying condition (e.g., maternal fever or infection) from the medication itself.
• The consensus from regulatory bodies (NHS, FDA, EMA, WHO) is that occasional, appropriate use of paracetamol during pregnancy is considered safe.

🔹 Fever during pregnancy

• High fever in pregnancy can be risky.
• Especially in the first trimester, maternal hyperthermia (very high core temperature) has been associated with increased risks of neural tube defects and possibly miscarriage.
• Later in pregnancy, fever can also stress the fetus.
• Because of this, doctors generally recommend treating fever in pregnancy — and paracetamol is the safest option.

🔹 Why the confusion?

• Some observational studies hinted at links between prolonged or heavy paracetamol use and later neurodevelopmental differences.
• But causation hasn’t been established. Many experts think the underlying reason for taking paracetamol (like infection, inflammation, or fever) may explain the risk, not the medicine itself.
• That’s why major health authorities still say: if you need to bring down a fever while pregnant, paracetamol is appropriate.

✅ Bottom line:

• Untreated high fever in pregnancy is risky.
• Paracetamol is the safest fever treatment available during pregnancy.
• Occasional, responsible use is recommended by health authorities, and the evidence that it “causes autism” is not supported by current science.

I realised my daughter had additional needs when she was just 6 months old and professional referrals were made at 10 months. She didn’t have her MMR until she was 13 months, so that absolutely could not have caused it.

Call me crazy, but I'd rather have any scientific studies conducted by scientists, rather than some ideologically/financially motivated fuckwit who fired scientists because they wont repeat his lies.

If you like killing women and kids, you've backed the right horse.

Seems like not everyone takes Trump and his lickspittles too seriously.

Shame on us.

@SleeplessInWherever Well we all associate Trump with empathy don’t we…

No, no. He did say if you can’t “tough it out” then you can take one.

Tough it out. Like he’s ever tried “toughing out” pregnancy or childbirth.

Lest we forget.

Exactly. It’s also just another thing to shame and blame women with. Shameless scaremongering. What exactly are women supposed to do for pain relief? Suffer I suppose. 🙄

Even if there is a link between paracetamol and autism (and I’m being generous because I don’t believe there is), it’s clearly in conjunction with something else.

Lots of people take paracetamol, they don’t all have neurodiverse children. So even if it is a thing, it’s not a sole cause.

Many of us were ignored or diagnosed with depression, anxiety, OCD, etc

I took paracetamol in pregnancy and regret it. There will always be that 'what if'. Its good that women are being encouraged to be more wary. Having neurosdiverse children myself, I am aware the causes are more complex than we understand but I find it incredibly disappointing how many mothers on here froth 'batshit' and refuse to believe autism can be impacted by anything other than 'generics'. I am seeing a combination of refusing to contemplate that mothers can be accountable in any way, knee-jerk defensiveness and hatred of trumps administrative to the point where nothing done under his gov can ever be considered to be any good.

Would you be happy for your child to die from measles in the name of medical research!

You don’t get an autism diagnosis for being shy, qwerky or eccentric.

Btw a large amount of the so called increase in autism numbers is down to classifying individuals who used to be described as quirky, eccentric or shy as being neurodiverse - I’m not passing judgement on whether this is right or wrong, it’s just they are the explosion in overall diagnosis rates not “classic” autism. Look at the research papers eg on pubmed. I have a dd with asd (diagnosed at age 2 25 years ago) so I’ve been watching the numbers increase for many years. There’s a separate issue of increasing behaviour issues which may or may not be combined with these “higher functioning” asd diagnosis and there’s various theories on this including lifestyle factors

It's merely the logical progression of "Will no one think of the children ?"

Yes, it's that bit where we get stuck. There are no suitable placements to move them to.

This is precisely what I foresee happening. And with everything else this absolute stain and his posse of scientifically illiterate misogynist twerps are doing, I can see pre-natal mother and infant mortality rates rocketing.

Haven't read or watched anything about what Trump has said. When i was pregnant 40 years ago i was warned not to take paracetamol, has that advice changed ?

Agreed.

Anyone who thinks there’s been a “horrific rise” in children like my son can get firmly in the fucking bin.

Special school places have been limited for years, there is nowhere near enough SEN provision available for every child with an EHCP. Nor would there need to be.

The idea is that mainstream education is supposed to have become more inclusive so children who can attend them, do, with support in place.

Some mainstreams are additionally resourced, have bases/hubs, and they all get funding to meet the needs of SENd children.

Children who are able to stay in mainstream with that support package should be able to. The real travesty is that mainstream schools receive that money and then don’t use it to meet need.

If a school genuinely can’t meet need, even with the extra funding - as they couldn’t with my son, then that child needs moving to a suitable placement.

"Horrific rise"??? That poster you quoted sounds deranged, like Adolf Hitler when he was planning the Aktion T4 program that murdered over 275000 children and adults with developmental disabilities.

The first victim was an 8 year old autistic kid.

They need to watch their language. There's nothing wrong with being autistic, it isn't a plague.

Governments need to stop looking for shaman cures and start looking for new ways to support autistics in every area of life. 5* care and support services should be the goal.

Otherwise we'll end up like Iceland, Finland, etc where they boast about eliminating disabilities via coerced abortions and euthanisising autistic adults, while rapists, pedos and murderers get to live in 5* prison accommodation and luxury housing on release.

There are a lot of children who can't get places in them though. I think it is a bit area dependent but where I am we have children who should clearly be in special school, stuck in mainstream, even at secondary, because there is nowhere else for them to go. Also, parents were given the right to choose to keep them in mainstream and I've known a few cases where barely verbal children have been kept in mainstream because that's what their parents want.