The Wall Street Journal Torches Trump’s Anti-Tylenol Campaign: ‘Whatever Happened to Do No Harm?’
(AP Photo)
The Wall Street Journal torched President Donald Trump and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over their campaign against the over-the-counter painkiller Tylenol in a new editorial.
On Monday, Trump and Kennedy held a press conference at the White House during which the former announced that “effective immediately, the FDA will be notifying physicians” that the use of Tylenol during pregnancy “can be associated with a very increased risk of autism.”
“I think you shouldn’t take it. You shouldn’t take it during the entire pregnancy,” he added.
“What’s going on here has less to do with healthcare than with a campaign by the plaintiffs bar,” submitted the Journal in its editorial on the matter. “If a drug company made the unproven claims aired at the White House, the Food and Drug Administration would threaten legal action.”
After observing that higher rates of autism are likely attributable to “broader diagnostic criteria and heightened public awareness,” the newspaper put forward a reason to continue recommending pregnant women to use Tylenol:
All of this suggests a need for policy caution, which is why the FDA has for many years declined to change the warning label on Tylenol. One reason is because doctors typically advise that pregnant women take acetaminophen as the safest remedy for fever and pain; anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen can endanger a fetus. Fevers and illnesses during pregnancy increase the risk of congenital defects. They’ve also been associated with autism.
The FDA acknowledged as much Monday: “There can be risks for untreated fever in pregnancy, both for the mother and fetus” and “there are contrary studies showing no association” between autism and acetaminophen.
“So why the sudden alarm, complete with a presidential presser? The Occam’s razor answer is the influence of RFK Jr., who is carrying water for his friends in the plaintiffs bar. A who’s-who of lawsuit shops are pushing the Tylenol-autism link in federal court,” explained the Journal. “The transparent goal is to drum up more claims to drive a bigger damage award or settlement.”
“Perhaps no one told Mr. Trump about this trial lawyer campaign, but the costs of his intervention aren’t benign. He’s raising public fear about a useful medicine in a way that could harm maternal and fetal health,” concluded the editorial. “Whatever happened to do no harm?”
