The American public can no longer trust the government on medicine

Those poor scientists – their federal funding has been taken away, their research programs scrapped, and their rigorous scientific findings ignored in favor of one man’s irrational, uninformed opinion. 

Federal agencies like the CDC, the FDA and the HHS have been gutted of the bright minds who would normally pour through the mountains of research and compile sensible medical recommendations for the public. At least we’re not turning mice transgender anymore. 

The federal apparatus that takes medical research as inputs and analyzes it in the interest of the public has been thoroughly compromised by Trump hires such as Robert Kennedy Jr., the Secretary of Health and Human Services, who wields the agencies in charge of our health in the service of conspiracy theories, bad science, and easily-debunked one-google-search-away falsehoods. 

We can no longer trust that what the government tells us about medical science was produced while adhering to robust scientific standards, independent of the medically illiterate whims of a single man. While federal agencies like the FDA and HHS were far from perfect, under this administration they are just openly spreading misinformation. 

The latest proof of this came on Monday during a press conference when President Trump, with RFK Jr. behind him, declared to the public that the use of acetaminophen (the active ingredient in Tylenol) during pregnancy causes autism. 

What evidence did the Trump administration offer for this bold claim? They cited a few low-powered studies that found what may be a modest link between acetaminophen and autism. What they neglected to see is that many of these studies themselves admitted that they did not control for the expectant mother’s fevers (which they were treating with acetaminophen), which are more strongly associated with autism and other pregnancy complications including miscarriage. Notice that if women believe RFK Jr.’s misinformation, they may risk much worse by trying to “tough it out” through illness.

More importantly, larger studies with more rigorous methodology have found no link between prenatal acetaminophen use and autism. A Swedish study that has been cited repeatedly following Trump’s announcement used sibling pairs (where one sibling’s pregnancy involved acetaminophen use and the other didn’t) to determine whether previous studies that found a link between autism and acetaminophen use held water – normal science attempting to either confirm or disconfirm a hypothesis. 

This massive study, taking place over a 25 year period and involving 2.5 million children, found no increased risk of autism, ADHD, or other intellectual disabilities.

If you read the study, you’ll find a section that encapsulates the challenges, intricacies, and care that go into medical research: “Although this study had several strengths […] there were also limitations. [T]he median ages of neurodevelopmental diagnoses in the present study were higher than in other studies […] [Additionally] exposure assessment was not perfect. Antenatal data in the Medical Birth Register only recorded whether a birthing parent used acetaminophen, without regard to dose, duration, or timing. Prescription dispensation records might not reflect [over the counter] use of acetaminophen.”

Looking at the study, you’ll notice that the authors are careful to explain what their specific study establishes (and what it doesn’t) and how we may increase our degree of confidence in their conclusion via more and varied research. They take great care to express the many nuanced facets of this particular question. 

With this in mind we can compare how our current leaders deal with this very complex issue, even when the majority of the evidence indicates the absence of a link: “Effective immediately, the FDA will be notifying physicians that the use of aceto…well…let’s see how we say that. Acetom…minophen. Acetaminophen. Is that ok? Which is basically commonly known as Tylenol. During pregnancy can be associated with a very increased risk of autism. So taking Tylenol is not good. Alright, I’ll say it. It’s not good.”

Trump provided further proof by noting that Amish communities and Cuba have almost no autism because they do not use acetaminophen. Do you even need to google this to know if it’s true?

Trump went on to talk about vaccines, targeting the Hepatitis B vaccine in particular: “Hepatitis B is sexually transmitted. There’s no reason to give a baby that’s almost just born, Hepatitis B. So I would say, wait til the baby is 12 years old and take Hepatitis B.” 

The virus is very commonly transmitted to babies during childbirth from the mother. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, 90% of children infected with Hepatitis B will go on to develop lifelong chronic infections which can lead to, “liver damage, liver failure, liver cancer, or even death.” Since 1991 when Hepatitis B vaccines were recommended in newborns, childhood infections have decreased by 99%.

Those in charge of our healthcare told the president that Cuba does not have autistic people and he believed it and relayed it to the public. Such a blatant falsehood making it to the press conference betrays the fact that there is no limit to how false something has to be in order for this administration to resist propagating it. 

Being conclusively established medical and scientific fact with a powerful expert consensus is a poor shield from this administration’s power to distort. With these recommendations and their warnings against vaccines in general, lives will be needlessly lost.

Rafael Perez is a columnist for the Southern California News Group. You can reach him at rafaelperezocregister@gmail.com.