Since President Trump appointed him to the publish of Well being and Human Providers Secretary in November of 2024, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., has made numerous well being claims at odds with established medical science.
However so far, these positions haven’t taken intention at a selected model, as an announcement due out Monday is anticipated to.
As reported by the Washington Publish on September 21, federal well being officers are getting ready to publicly counsel a scientific hyperlink between acetaminophen use and autism. Whereas it’s unclear if the feds will point out Tylenol by title, they in all probability don’t have to: Tylenol is virtually synonymous with the drug. Its mum or dad firm Kenvue tops the $10.4 billion acetaminophen class with a 15% market share, in accordance with information from International Market Insights.
Relying on how severely the general public takes Monday’s announcement, Tylenol gross sales could undergo—no less than within the quick time period. Kenvue’s share value had already dipped by 6% noon on Monday.
Kennedy’s views look like influenced by a latest paper by epidemiologists from the Harvard T.H. Chan College of Public Well being and Mount Sinai’s Icahn College of Medication, which suggests “an affiliation
between acetaminophen publicity throughout being pregnant and elevated incidence of NDDs [neurodevelopmen-
tal disorders.]” The authors additionally acknowledged that their work didn’t show a definitive hyperlink.
Tylenol and Kenvue wasted no time taking to the battlements.
“We consider unbiased, sound science clearly reveals that taking acetaminophen doesn’t trigger autism,” Kenvue shared with ADWEEK in a press release. “We strongly disagree with any suggestion in any other case and are deeply involved with the well being threat this poses for anticipating moms.”
The assertion continued: “The details are that over a decade of rigorous analysis, endorsed by main medical professionals and international well being regulators, confirms there is no such thing as a credible proof linking acetaminophen to autism.”
If the circumstances are proper, manufacturers could be susceptible to vital statements made within the public sphere. In 2004, for instance, the film Tremendous Dimension Me (by which director Morgan Spurlock lived solely off McDonald’s for 30 days) put the chain’s menu underneath the microscope. A short while later, McDonald’s discontinued its mega parts and boosted its salad choices.
Kennedy has already gone on the report with numerous medical claims which might be at odds with scientific analysis.
He has repeatedly laid the blame for college shootings on antidepressants, for instance. He has drawn a hyperlink between consuming water and transgenderism and likewise publicly acknowledged his perception that the immune methods of Black People are not as robust as these of caucasians.
Maybe most memorably, throughout an look on Joe Rogan’s podcast in June of 2023, Kennedy opined that WiFi is guilty for a situation he known as “leaky mind.”