Weird Science

In this week’s single phase, the hosts take on the recent health recommendations coming out of the Department of Health and Human Services. They discuss the recent announcement of a (non-)connection between acetaminophen usage while pregnant and autism, the damage such misinformation can do to people’s trust of healthcare, and other concerning issues that will likely harm not help Americans.

Word of the Week [1:41]: Acetaminophen: The safety of the fever-reducing drug that millions of people, including pregnant women, use to reduce muscle aches, fevers, and headaches was called into question by the President, who it turns out, cannot even pronounce it.

Phase 1 [4:48]: Bad Science Foolishness: There are just so many reasons to be worried about the pseudoscience coming out of the Department of Health and Human Services under the leadership of one RFK Jr. The most recent debacle included blaming women for their child’s autism if they took acetaminophen while pregnant. This claim, for which there is zero causal scientific evidence, was announced loudly from the White House under a self-imposed September deadline for identifying the cause(s) of autism. Decades of research, changes in diagnostic criteria, and an increase in medical provider awareness be damned. “Don’t Take Tylenol,” the President chanted [note: acetaminophen appears in many other brand name drugs you might know]. This announcement, plus the recommendation that infant vaccinations put “too much liquid” into babies, and the MMR vaccine should be broken up are an assault on public health. These assertions are not making Americans healthier, in fact, the consequences could be just the opposite.

Mentioned in the show

Trump blames Tylenol for autism. Science doesn't back him up – NPR

Trump links autism and Tylenol: is there any truth to it? - Nature

ASF Statement on White House Announcement on Autism – Autism Science Foundation