Tylenol and Autism: Busting the Myth Behind the Connection with Lorne Farovitch, Ph.D.
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Transcript: Let’s clear up a big news headline: does Tylenol (or as doctors call it: acetaminophen) cause autism? The short answer? No. Right now, the evidence says it does not. Hi, I’m Dr. Lorne Farovitch. So why do news headlines keep bringing this up? Here’s where the confusion happens. You might see a story about one study that seems to show Tylenol causes autism and think, “Well, that must be true — the science says so.” But science doesn’t work that way. One study on its own can’t settle the question. Think about the weather. If it rains one afternoon, does that prove to you that it is a rainy city? Of course not. You’d need to look at the weather over many days to really see the pattern. Science works the same way. To know what’s real, we need to look at the bigger picture, across many studies. And that’s exactly what researchers have been doing. The paper behind this week’s news headlines came from Harvard and Mount Sinai. They looked at more than forty-six studies on acetaminophen and neurodevelopmental disorders — things like autism and ADHD. Six of those studies focused just on autism. The results? Mixed. Some showed a possible link. Others showed nothing. And this is where people often get confused. If a study shows a link, it’s easy to assume that means cause. But that’s not how science works. A link does not mean cause. Think about summer. Ice cream sales go up, and so do sunburns. Does ice cream cause sunburn? Of course not. They just happen at the same time. Again, correlation is not causation. To really understand what’s going on, you have to dig deeper. And that’s why science is called research…RE-search. We don’t stop at one study, or when results are mixed. We go back. We search again. And again. Each time, researchers ask better questions, design stronger studies, and work to separate coincidence from cause. That’s exactly what researchers in Sweden did in 2024. They tried something new: comparing siblings. One child was exposed to acetaminophen during pregnancy, the other wasn’t. That was a great way to really examine the relationship between acetaminophen and autism. Why does that matter? Because siblings share so much — their genetics, their home environment. And since autism is strongly influenced by genetics and environmental factors, comparing siblings is like comparing apples to apples. So what did they find? When they compared brothers and sisters, the supposed link between acetaminophen and autism went away. That doesn’t mean none of the kids in the study had autism, some did. But it does mean this: once you factor in family genetics and background, taking acetaminophen didn’t change a child’s chances of having autism showing that it is not acetaminophen. Now, one last important point. Tylenol is just a brand name for acetaminophen in the U.S., made by Johnson & Johnson. Think of it like Kleenex. Kleenex is a brand, but the actual product is tissue. In the same way, Tylenol is a brand, but the actual medicine is acetaminophen. And Tylenol isn’t the only acetaminophen medicine out there. Acetaminophen is one of the most widely used medicines in the world. In the U.K., it’s called paracetamol. In Canada, you’ll see brands like Panadol. And in many countries, it’s sold under generic names. So it doesn’t make sense to single out Tylenol or one company. Acetaminophen is everywhere, made by many manufacturers, and relied on around the world. So when we step back and look at the big picture across dozens of studies and millions of people that have taken it, the conclusion is clear: Acetaminophen does not cause autism.