Dr. Oz gets swift pushback from CNN's Jake Tapper over key autism claim about Tylenol
Nicole Charky-Chami
September 26, 2025
RAW STORY
Dr. Mehmet Oz responded to the Trump administration claims that pregnant women should not take Tylenol. (Screenshot/CNN)
CNN's Jake Tapper delivered swift pushback on Dr. Mehmet Oz over key autism claims Friday after the Trump administration attempted to blame pregnant women's use of Tylenol for autism among children.
Oz, former TV host and current administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, joined Tapper to follow up on the Monday press conference where President Donald Trump proclaimed that pregnant women should not take the pain reliever.
"In a letter to physicians, though, the Food and Drug Administration said that a causal relationship between taking Tylenol by pregnant mothers and autism has not been firmly established, the HHS says doctors should use their best judgment," Tapper clarified.
The president said "nearly a dozen times" that pregnant women should not take Tylenol, he added.
Oz tried to argue that autism is more prevalent now than when he was growing up — but Tapper corrected him, saying that doctors now have more information about it, so it makes sense that there are more cases because it's identified more often.
"...Look at someone my age, our age. Bobby — Secretary Kennedy's age. We don't have a lot of people in our lives, our age who are on the autism spectrum," Oz said.
But Tapper didn't sit back on that claim.
"Well, we maybe don't have as many people who were diagnosed on the autism," Tapper said, pushing back.
"But think about it right now, if you look around at your friend group or people you grew up with, just think back in time. How many people who are — I'm 65 this year — I don't remember ever meeting a child when I was a kid who was on the spectrum," Oz said.
Tapper corrected that there "just wasn't the same understanding of it."
"I agree, but even so, if you look around, you see children who have autism in many different settings with families," Oz said, trying to change the subject.
Nicole Charky-Chami
September 26, 2025
RAW STORY
Dr. Mehmet Oz responded to the Trump administration claims that pregnant women should not take Tylenol. (Screenshot/CNN)
CNN's Jake Tapper delivered swift pushback on Dr. Mehmet Oz over key autism claims Friday after the Trump administration attempted to blame pregnant women's use of Tylenol for autism among children.
Oz, former TV host and current administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, joined Tapper to follow up on the Monday press conference where President Donald Trump proclaimed that pregnant women should not take the pain reliever.
"In a letter to physicians, though, the Food and Drug Administration said that a causal relationship between taking Tylenol by pregnant mothers and autism has not been firmly established, the HHS says doctors should use their best judgment," Tapper clarified.
The president said "nearly a dozen times" that pregnant women should not take Tylenol, he added.
Oz tried to argue that autism is more prevalent now than when he was growing up — but Tapper corrected him, saying that doctors now have more information about it, so it makes sense that there are more cases because it's identified more often.
"...Look at someone my age, our age. Bobby — Secretary Kennedy's age. We don't have a lot of people in our lives, our age who are on the autism spectrum," Oz said.
But Tapper didn't sit back on that claim.
"Well, we maybe don't have as many people who were diagnosed on the autism," Tapper said, pushing back.
"But think about it right now, if you look around at your friend group or people you grew up with, just think back in time. How many people who are — I'm 65 this year — I don't remember ever meeting a child when I was a kid who was on the spectrum," Oz said.
Tapper corrected that there "just wasn't the same understanding of it."
"I agree, but even so, if you look around, you see children who have autism in many different settings with families," Oz said, trying to change the subject.
'We feel it is important to fact check': MSNBC pushes back on new Trump Tylenol claim
Sarah K. Burris
September 26, 2025
Sarah K. Burris
September 26, 2025
RAW STORY
Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Reuters)
MSNBC Dr. Vin Gupta was hauled into the studio to call out President Donald Trump's tall tale about Tylenol.
In a Truth Social post Friday morning, Trump demanded in all capital letters that pregnant women "DON’T USE TYLENOL..."
Trump announced his war against the over-the-counter pain reliever earlier this week, alongside Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., who is neither a scientist nor a doctor.
"Because the president has put that out there, we feel it's important to fact-check all of that," said host Ana Cabrera.
Appearing on video from a hospital room and dressed in scrubs, Dr. Gupta promised that pregnant women and children can safely take Tylenol.
"As you and I have talked about recently, there is the highest quality clinical research published public, that looked at 2.5 million children in Sweden. And specifically, it looked at children and it looked at siblings of children who took Tylenol or whose moms took Tylenol during pregnancy, compared it to siblings, where those same moms didn't take Tylenol during pregnancy. So sibling matched studies. And what they found was that when you account for family genetics and environmental risk factors, all the things you need to a specific family, you account for those variables, taking Tylenol during pregnancy or not taking Tylenol during pregnancy does not in any way increase your risk of autism."
It means that the "best quality research does not substantiate what the president put out there."
A federal judge dismissed hundreds of lawsuits from families alleging Tylenol caused autism a year ago.
Dr. Gupta went on to encourage moms to feel comfortable using Tylenol for lowering fevers.
He also fact-checked Trump's attack on the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine, saying that it doesn't need to be broken up.
"You know, I'm not sure who's advising him, but those three shots measles, mumps, rubella and that's what constitutes MMR, that vaccine that does not exist as monovalent vaccines," he said noting that it isn't even available to get separately.
"So, I don't know what he's talking about," Dr. Gupta confessed.
He also said that it's fine to break up the chickenpox vaccine from MMR between 12 and 15 months of age. Prior to Trump, it was recommended that those be taken at different times.
Sociology professor at California Polytechnic State University, Martine Lappé, told NPR that Trump's accusations are part of "a long history of blaming mothers in this country, and we're seeing that reinforced through the narratives around autism's causes right now."
The comments add to a long list of doctors and scientific experts who challenge the idea that Tylenol causes Autism.
Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Reuters)
MSNBC Dr. Vin Gupta was hauled into the studio to call out President Donald Trump's tall tale about Tylenol.
In a Truth Social post Friday morning, Trump demanded in all capital letters that pregnant women "DON’T USE TYLENOL..."
Trump announced his war against the over-the-counter pain reliever earlier this week, alongside Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., who is neither a scientist nor a doctor.
"Because the president has put that out there, we feel it's important to fact-check all of that," said host Ana Cabrera.
Appearing on video from a hospital room and dressed in scrubs, Dr. Gupta promised that pregnant women and children can safely take Tylenol.
"As you and I have talked about recently, there is the highest quality clinical research published public, that looked at 2.5 million children in Sweden. And specifically, it looked at children and it looked at siblings of children who took Tylenol or whose moms took Tylenol during pregnancy, compared it to siblings, where those same moms didn't take Tylenol during pregnancy. So sibling matched studies. And what they found was that when you account for family genetics and environmental risk factors, all the things you need to a specific family, you account for those variables, taking Tylenol during pregnancy or not taking Tylenol during pregnancy does not in any way increase your risk of autism."
It means that the "best quality research does not substantiate what the president put out there."
A federal judge dismissed hundreds of lawsuits from families alleging Tylenol caused autism a year ago.
Dr. Gupta went on to encourage moms to feel comfortable using Tylenol for lowering fevers.
He also fact-checked Trump's attack on the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine, saying that it doesn't need to be broken up.
"You know, I'm not sure who's advising him, but those three shots measles, mumps, rubella and that's what constitutes MMR, that vaccine that does not exist as monovalent vaccines," he said noting that it isn't even available to get separately.
"So, I don't know what he's talking about," Dr. Gupta confessed.
He also said that it's fine to break up the chickenpox vaccine from MMR between 12 and 15 months of age. Prior to Trump, it was recommended that those be taken at different times.
Sociology professor at California Polytechnic State University, Martine Lappé, told NPR that Trump's accusations are part of "a long history of blaming mothers in this country, and we're seeing that reinforced through the narratives around autism's causes right now."
The comments add to a long list of doctors and scientific experts who challenge the idea that Tylenol causes Autism.
By AFP
September 23, 2025
Lee Da-bin, a South Korean with autism, told AFP many people don't realise when they are encountering milder forms of autism - Copyright AFP Jung Yeon-je
Nina LARSON
Neither the painkiller Tylenol nor vaccines have been shown to cause autism, the World Health Organization 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 some observational studies — which are based purely on observations and do not include control or treatment groups — had “suggested a possible association between prenatal exposure to acetaminophen or paracetamol and autism”.
But, he told reporters in Geneva, “the evidence remains inconsistent” with other studies finding “no such relationship”.
“If the link between acetaminophen and autism were strong, it would likely have been consistently observed across multiple studies,” he said, warning against “drawing casual conclusions about the role of acetaminophen in autism”.
– ‘No evidence’ –
European medical regulators meanwhile said their recommendations that pregnant women can use paracetamol for pain relief had not changed.
“Patient safety is our top priority. There is no evidence that taking paracetamol during pregnancy causes autism in children,” Alison Cave, safety chief at Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), said in a statement.
Steffen Thirstrup, chief medical officer at the European Medicines Agency, agreed.
“Our advice is based on a rigorous assessment of the available scientific data and we have found no evidence that taking paracetamol during pregnancy causes autism in children,” he said.
TWO CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY VILLANS
Autism claims by Trump (L) and Kennedy (R) are not backed by consistent scientific evidence, WHO says – Copyright AFP TIMOTHY A. CLARY
Vaccines were also on the rambling agenda of Trump’s press conference on Monday, when he repeated anti-vax movement talking points.
He sowed doubt over standard vaccines including the MMR shot — which covers measles, mumps and rubella — and implied he would end the common use of aluminium in vaccines, the safety of which has been widely studied.
Identifying the root of autism — a complex condition connected to brain development that many experts believe occurs for predominantly genetic reasons — has been a pet cause of Trump’s health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Kennedy has for decades spread claims that vaccines cause autism.
– ‘Vaccine schedules evolve with science’ –
Asked about the fears raised by the US president and his administration over childhood vaccines, Jasaravic said: “Vaccines do not cause autism.”
“The childhood immunisation schedule, carefully guided by WHO, has been adopted by all countries and has saved at least 154 million lives over the past 50 years,” he added.
“These schedules have continually evolved with science and now safeguard children, adolescents and adults against 30 infectious diseases,” he said.
He warned, however, that “when immunisation schedules are delayed or disrupted, or altered without evidence review, there is a sharp increase in the risk of infection not only for the child but also for the wider community”.
“Each missed dose increases the chances of contracting a life-threatening infectious disease.”
The WHO spokesman said that 62 million people were known to be living with autism spectrum disorder worldwide.
The global community needed to do more, he acknowledged, “to understand the causes of autism and how best to car for and support the needs of autistic people and their families”.
But science had “proven” there was no link to vaccines, he said, adding: “These things should not really be questioned.”
Autism claims by Trump (L) and Kennedy (R) are not backed by consistent scientific evidence, WHO says – Copyright AFP TIMOTHY A. CLARY
Vaccines were also on the rambling agenda of Trump’s press conference on Monday, when he repeated anti-vax movement talking points.
He sowed doubt over standard vaccines including the MMR shot — which covers measles, mumps and rubella — and implied he would end the common use of aluminium in vaccines, the safety of which has been widely studied.
Identifying the root of autism — a complex condition connected to brain development that many experts believe occurs for predominantly genetic reasons — has been a pet cause of Trump’s health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Kennedy has for decades spread claims that vaccines cause autism.
– ‘Vaccine schedules evolve with science’ –
Asked about the fears raised by the US president and his administration over childhood vaccines, Jasaravic said: “Vaccines do not cause autism.”
“The childhood immunisation schedule, carefully guided by WHO, has been adopted by all countries and has saved at least 154 million lives over the past 50 years,” he added.
“These schedules have continually evolved with science and now safeguard children, adolescents and adults against 30 infectious diseases,” he said.
He warned, however, that “when immunisation schedules are delayed or disrupted, or altered without evidence review, there is a sharp increase in the risk of infection not only for the child but also for the wider community”.
“Each missed dose increases the chances of contracting a life-threatening infectious disease.”
The WHO spokesman said that 62 million people were known to be living with autism spectrum disorder worldwide.
The global community needed to do more, he acknowledged, “to understand the causes of autism and how best to car for and support the needs of autistic people and their families”.
But science had “proven” there was no link to vaccines, he said, adding: “These things should not really be questioned.”
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