Trump on autism

[BeHappySloth]

Sorry if there is another thread - I did look.

I mean, wtf??!!

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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. 🙄

Lest we forget.

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.

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

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

Shame on us.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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

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.

Obviously not good or responsible for trump to come out withbthis rubbish theory, but bi think we would all welcome an investigation into exactly what's causing Autism to be so rampant. I have my own theories. The upside would be that we could stop this happening to so many families causing so much misery. But also the welfare system having to accommodate a huge increase in claims - it could save billions if we found out why Autism is on the up. Then we could do something about it.

@Livelovebehappy do you trust the Trump adminstration to carry out thorough research? Or will we end end up with another Andrew Wakefield scenario and be in a bigger mess?

@Livelovebehappy

The thing is, I don’t want a cure. We love our son, needs and all, and if he wasn’t autistic he wouldn’t be himself. Autism isn’t all he is, but his many quirks and habits at least partly come from it and I wouldn’t change any of them.

Living with a child with autism is obviously not without its challenges. But I wouldn’t describe our family as living in “misery.”

I know. But it's almost as if they get to do what they say- find a cause of autism and control women's bodies.

When typing out posts like this, I wish people would stop and think what it feels like to read this as someone who is autistic with autistic children. Does society really wish that we just didn't exist?

Do something about it

You mean better support?