Previous thread about this:
https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/111103/
RFK Jr. Says US Will Know Cause of Autism
34 responses |
Started by metmike - April 10, 2025, 8:07 p.m.
https://www.newsweek.com/rfk-jr-says-us-will-know-cause-autism-epidemic-september-2058191
WATCH LIVE: Trump expected to make announcement on autism
READ MORE: Here’s what we know about the causes of autism
READ MORE: Fact-checking RFK Jr.’s claim that environmental toxins cause autism
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After the Wall Street Journal reported on Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s plans to link Tylenol to autism, leading maternal and prenatal care organizations reiterated their longstanding support for using acetaminophen during pregnancy.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine said acetaminophen is a safe way to treat pain and fever when used in moderation.
WATCH: How RFK Jr. is shaping the conversation about autism and why advocates are pushing back
“Pregnant patients should not be frightened away from the many benefits of acetaminophen, which is safe and one of the few options pregnant people have for pain relief,” said Dr. Christopher Zahn, ACOG’s chief of clinical practice.
In fact, Dr. Salena Zanotti, an obstetrician and gynecologist, told Cleveland Clinic earlier this year that acetaminophen is considered the safest drug to take during pregnancy for fever and pain.
“When you’re pregnant, it’s riskier to have an untreated fever than it is to take acetaminophen,” Zanotti said.
Other common pain relievers such as ibuprofen or naproxen — often sold as Advil or Aleve, respectively — aren’t recommended during pregnancy because they could harm fetal development, Zanotti said. The Food and Drug Administration said as much in 2023, advising that such nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, shouldn’t be used during pregnancy after 20 weeks of gestation.
Ignoring medical conditions such as fever that could be treated with acetaminophen during pregnancy is “far more dangerous than theoretical concerns based on inconclusive reviews of conflicting science,” Zahn said.
READ MORE: What research reveals about the rise in autism diagnoses and why vaccines aren’t the cause
No study has shown using acetaminophen during pregnancy causes developmental disabilities — including autism.
WATCH: ‘Good science takes time’: Researcher skeptical autism cause will be found by September
But the language used in scientific research can be confusing. Words like “correlation,” “association,” and “increased risk,” in studies about acetaminophen use during pregnancy do not mean that the medication caused a disability like autism.
“Both ‘association’ and ‘increased risk’ are very different from ‘proven causal link,’” said Christopher J. Smith, chief science officer at Southwest Autism Research & Resource Center.
‘Good science takes time’: Researcher skeptical autism cause will be found by September
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Exactly!!!! The scientific absurdity and quackery of announcing in April that he would find the cause of autism in 5 months, a condition with dozens of studies the past 2 decades sounds exactly like somebody that will FIND something to blame even though they can't possibly know.
Scientific discoveries of long studied conditions like this and the factors impacting them, absolutely do NOT have a time table or deadline. Anybody that gives one is NOT a scientist. I just happen to be a scientist.
RFK fired most of the qualified scientists that worked for him and replaced them with quacks that will regurgitate his nonsense.
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Supervisors deliver bad news across NIH, CDC
President Donald Trump’s administration today moved to fire 5200 workers at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), using supervisors across the vast agency to warn probationary employees that they would soon receive termination notices. It also fired the director and much of the staff of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), a $1.5 billion agency created 3 years ago to fund high-risk, high-payoff research.
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https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx29rdpg45xo
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The HHS secretary announced his plans in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece Monday afternoon.
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Many of the new members of the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices have been skeptical of vaccines.
https://19thnews.org/2025/06/rfk-jr-fires-vaccine-panel-replacements/
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s recent upheaval of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is just one example of numerous attempts to replace science with his personal agenda.
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And his boss, Predator Trump brags about how great RFK Jr. is. ................even as many thousands of people in this country, at the very least will die because of him.
MAHA????
How about make America scientifically stupid and vulnerable to disease again!
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Why Trump’s recent announcement sent a chill down my spine
By David Rivera — April 02, 2025
David Rivera
David Rivera is the autistic president and founder of Mentoring Autistic Minds, a California-based nonprofit that aims for a neurodiversity-affirming country through education and mentoring.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has no place being put in charge of special education services. Last month, however, President Donald Trump announced plans to do just that by shifting federal programs supporting students with disabilities to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. According to Trump, the department, which Kennedy leads as secretary, will be in charge of “special needs and all of the nutrition programs and everything else.”
When I heard these words, I felt chills down my spine. I’m sure most of the autistic community and the overall neurodivergent community did as well. There is nobody that is less qualified to be in charge of special education services from the federal government than Kennedy himself.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autistic_rights_movement
The autistic rights movement, also known as the autism acceptance movement, is a social movement allied with the disability rights movement. It emphasizes the neurodiversity paradigm, viewing autism as a set of naturally occurring variations in human cognition, a cognitive difference with both strengths and weaknesses, rather than as a disease to be cured or a medical disorder.[2] This paradigm contradicts and diverges from the medical model of disability, without opposing all aspects of it.[3][4][5]
Central to the autistic rights movement's beliefs is the right to self-determine if one is part of the autism community, that autistic people should be seen as the primary voice for autistic people, and that autistic people have the final say in what language should be used when talking about autism. A common motto used by the autistic rights movement, borrowed from the disability rights movement, is the phrase "nothing about us without us".[6]
Autistic rights movement advocates strive for widespread acceptance of people with autism, as well as the traits and behaviors (e.g. stimming, lack of eye contact, and special interests) associated with autism, for autistic people to socialize on their own terms,[7] and to mitigate the double empathy problem.[8][9] The movement seeks to reform, advance, and foster autism-oriented support services, interventions or therapies in accordance with neurodiversity principles to emphasize coping skills for challenging situations,[10] promote adaptive skills, and promote psychological well-being and mental health, through incorporating voices and perspectives of autistic people in intervention reforms, advancements, and developments.[11][12][13][14][15][16]
The movement criticizes therapies and interventions that—implicitly or explicitly, unintentionally or intentionally—encourage masking behaviors associated with autism and imitating neurotypical social behaviors,[17][18] as higher tendencies of camouflaging, autistic masking, or passing as neurotypical are associated with worse mental health outcomes according to most recent studies and multiple systematic reviews[19][20][21] and some autistic adults who experienced some forms of behavioral interventions reported adverse effects such as detrimental effects on their mental health due to increased or excessive camouflaging or masking.[22][23][24] Limited but a few quantitative studies found that such adverse effects (e.g. reinforcement of masking, trauma, mental health worsening) appear to be experienced by a substantial proportion of autistic people who received these interventions.[25][26]
The movement also advocates for autistic people to be recognized as a minority group rather than as having a disorder. Within the autistic rights movement, autism is often compared to different variations in human biology not categorized as disorders, such as homosexuality
This complete loony tune is going to tell us that the increase in the use of Tylenol is correlated with the increase in the incidence of autism!
Just like the increase in.......100s of other things because of the advancement of medicine and technology increased at the same time .......that are INDEPENDENT of each other.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/opinion/experts-autism-trump-kennedy.html
Alex Ellerbeck, an Opinion health and science editor, hosted an online conversation with four autism experts to discuss the Trump administration’s news conference Monday on autism.
Alex Ellerbeck: On Monday, President Trump suggested that vaccines were contributing to the increase in autism and told parents to space out their children’s vaccine schedule. Mr. Trump and top health officials, including Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., linked Tylenol to autism. Trump said pregnant women should only take it if they couldn’t “tough it out.” What was your reaction to this announcement?
Alison Singer: It took me straight back to when moms were blamed for autism. If you can’t take the pain or deal with fever, if you can’t tough it out, then you are to blame if your child has autism. That was shocking. Simply shocking.
Helen Tager-Flusberg: I was expecting some of what was presented, but I have to say I was shocked and appalled to hear the extreme statements without evidence in support of what any of the presenters said. In some respects this was the most unhinged discussion of autism that I have ever listened to. It was clear that none of the presenters knew much about autism — other than the mothers’ lived experience — and nothing about the existing science. This may be the most difficult day in my career.
Eric Garcia: Same here. The other comment that hit me was Dr. Marty Makary, the Food and Drug Administration commissioner, saying: “If you’ve seen a kid with autism, with severe autism, it’s hard to watch. Kids get frustrated, they get angry, they can be crying because they want to speak and they can’t speak. It’s hard to watch.” Nobody disputes that high-support-needs autistic people have significant health challenges. But him saying “we can end the suffering” and “it may be entirely preventable” will offer tons of folks false hope.
Ellerbeck: Mr. Trump called the increase in autism a “horrible, horrible crisis.” He claimed that autism had risen 400 percent, that people in Amish communities don’t get autism. Brian, you’ve studied the epidemiology of autism. What do you make of this?
Brian K. Lee: There has certainly been a rise in autism. The factors contributing to that are debatable, but it is undebatable that a large portion of this is due to increased awareness and changing diagnostic criteria. The claim that the Amish don’t get autism made me raise my eyebrow. Traditionally, the pathway to autism diagnosis happens through medical care or through the school system, and these are two things that may be different for Amish children growing up. So if the Amish do indeed have a lower prevalence of autism, it’s likely related to the fact they have less opportunity to be diagnosed.
Garcia: If anything, the fact we now have increased diagnoses is a reason to celebrate. For the longest time, we overlooked autistic people of color and girls. Having data is good. It allows us to ask: “What do we do with these people? How can we serve them?” Instead, we’re seeing their existence as a crisis.
Tager-Flusberg: I would also take issue with calling the increase a horrible crisis. While the president and Mr. Kennedy spoke about profound autism, in fact we know that most of the increase in numbers is in individuals at the milder, nonprofound end of the spectrum. Here is where changes in diagnostic criteria have made an impact.
Singer: Mr. Kennedy and the president talk about profound autism symptoms, but then cite the “one in 31” number as the prevalence of autism, but that’s the prevalence for the full autism spectrum. The prevalence of profound autism is about one in 216.
Mr. Kennedy repeated his claim that there are no older adults with profound autism. My older brother, age 61, has profound autism. He lives in a group home with other men with profound autism. The reason Mr. Kennedy never saw anyone with profound autism when he was growing up is because back then people with autism were sent to institutions. They had no rights to go to school. Mr. Kennedy, if you are reading this, please consider this an invitation to come and meet my brother.
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metmike: Like these experts in the field, I was expecting the same junk science with absurd reasoning that defines RFK. Jr and Donald Trump (which is why I made all those posts above BEFORE they spoke) but the amount of false and blatantly ignorant statements was shocking, even for RFK/Trump.
It wouldn't be as shocking if 1 of them wasn't the most powerful person, in charge of health and human services in the United States and the other one wasn't the most powerful man in the world.
This is exactly what makes them both, profoundly dangerous! Their ability to do enormous damage because they are at the top and blatantly abusing their power with impunity. There is no limit to the serious harm they are doing to the United States and the world, as shown by Trumps tariffs. ……even as he brags about how great they are.
This pathological thinking with an inability to comprehend basic principles of medical science(about autism and vaccines) or with the tariffs, not understanding the principles of global economics and free trading that clearly show that free trade is beneficial to both sides and their blatant abuse of power to impose deranged agenda is extremely scary.
The R controlled Congress is giving them a free pass because they belong to the same party.
I predict with high confidence that the R party will be decimated in the November 2026 elections!!!! These guys and the R party can get away with this until then but they WILL BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE!
Medical experts and regulators say US president should not be questioning established science
Global health agencies and regulators have dismissed unscientific advice from Donald Trump that made an unproven link between autism and the use of everyday painkillers and vaccines.
In a sign of how worried foreign governments are about the US president’s comments, the health secretary of the UK, which is one the US’s closest allies, told the British public they should not “pay any attention whatsoever to what Donald Trump says about medicine”.
On Monday, Trump told pregnant women to avoid taking acetaminophen, which is sold in the US as Tylenol and known internationally as paracetamol, adding that those who could not “tough it out” should limit their intake.
He also said, in comments that risk exposing children to fatal diseases, that parents of young children should delay or avoid some vaccines. “Don’t let them pump your baby up with the largest pile of stuff you’ve ever seen in your life,” he said.
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/5268133-donald-trump-character-flaws/
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The anti science insanity (and other delusional stuff) that RFK. Jr and Trump are selling are like a science fiction tv show!
Take your pick:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dzxGlcErUo
TwilightZone 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORbseYAkzRM
https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/23/world/trump-paracetamol-acetaminophen-autism-agencies-intl
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg4230d0x0go
KVUE is the company that makes Tylenol.
1. 5 days
2. 1 month
3. 1 year
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/KVUE/
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This shows what massive hypocrites they are!!!!
https://time.com/7279068/trump-administration-autism-research-cuts/
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by Michelle Diament | June 2, 2025
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says he wants to get to the bottom of surging autism rates, but a new analysis finds that the Trump administration has cut funding for such research by double digits.
National Institutes of Health spending on autism research between January and April was down roughly $31 million compared to the same period last year, according to a Reuters review of federal data.
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Executive actions, budget cuts, layoffs, and legislation—all enacted in the Trump administration’s first six months—have curtailed disability rights and services, including access to Medicaid and the right to free, appropriate public education.
https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-trump-administrations-war-on-disability/
metmike: I added their strongest piece of evidence and the summary of that study with my comments below that.
FACT: Evidence Suggests Link Between Acetaminophen, Autism
The White House
FACT: Evidence suggests acetaminophen use in pregnant women, especially late in pregnancy, may cause long-term neurological effects in their children.
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https://ehjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12940-025-01208-0
Our analyses using the Navigation Guide thus support evidence consistent with an association between acetaminophen exposure during pregnancy and increased incidence of NDDs. Appropriate and immediate steps should be taken to advise pregnant women to limit acetaminophen consumption to protect their offspring’s neurodevelopment.
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metmike: Here is what the huge flaw is in ALL the studies that they sited.
None of those studies compared healthy women taking Tylenol with healthy women NOT taking Tylenol which would have made them more scientifically valid from changing just 1 variable in a study and comparing the results.
The reason that none of them did that is because healthy women DON'T TAKE TYLENOL!!!!!
As a result, all the studies used women that WERE SICK DURING THEIR PREGNANCY AND TOOK TYLENOL TO TREAT THEIR SICKNESS! and compared it to healthy women that didn't need to take Tylenol.
The conclusions were that taking the Tylenol to treat the sickness is what harmed the baby, while ignoring the much more powerful element...........the mother being sick.
This would be like doing a study on people taking Paxlovid(extremely effective in reducing the severity of COVID symptoms) to treat COVID and comparing it to HEALTHY people that never needed to take Paxlovid because they never had COVID and blaming the COVID problems on taking Paxlovid NOT COVID!!!
With regards to SICK pregnant women that took Tylenol. Tylenol, in fact REDUCES high fevers in sick women, which helps PROTECT the fetus. We know this with absolute certainty that high fevers can do great harm to the fetus. Trump stating that sick women with high fevers should "tough it out" instead of taking Tylenol is medical, presidential and common sense MALPRACTICE!!!! Sick pregnant women in all these studies had a variety of illnesses THAT WERE NEVER CONSIDERED! ONLY THAT THEY TOOK TYLENOL TO TREAT THE SICKNESS.
This is science AT ITS WORST, with people using really bad science out of ignorance and agenda.
As a reminder, metmike IS a professional scientist (degree in atmospheric and oceanic science from the University of Michigan). That has spent several decades studying medical science, human nutrition, agronomy and other scientific fields.
A huge goal at MarketForum is to generously share OBJECTIVE, INDEPENDENT and AUTHENTIC SCIENCE with readers to assist in understanding our world better.
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https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-tylenol-pregnant-fever-pain-risks/
Medicalexperts warn that fevers during pregnancy can cause problems for a developing baby.
Especially in early pregnancy, fevers are associated with cardiac issues, cleft lip, cleft palate and central nervous system abnormalities, Dr. Steven Fleischman, president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, told CBS News after Mr. Trump's announcement.
"The idea that we're going to let someone with a fever 'tough it out' may have much worse implications for a pregnant woman than taking a dose of acetaminophen to bring that fever down," he said. "I think that's not really an appropriate way to handle medical issues in pregnancy."
Dr. Céline Gounder, CBS News medical contributor and editor-at-large for public health at KFF Health News, echoed it's important to not let fevers go untreated due to the risk of brain development issues in the baby.
"Fever and infections during pregnancy can cause neurodevelopmental disorders including potentially autism," she said. "I worry that this will scare women and that pregnant women may avoid Tylenol even when it's entirely appropriate, for example, to treat a fever."
Internal medicine physician Dr. Shoshana Ungerleider said science does not support the administration's claims.