State Sen. Larry Stutts (R-Tuscumbia), an OB-GYN, is skeptical of recent claims by the Trump administration that the use of Tylenol during pregnancy can be associated with an increased risk of autism in children.
President Donald Trump announced on Monday in a press conference that the Food and Drug Administration believes the use of acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol and many cold and flu medications, during pregnancy can be linked to an increased risk of autism.
Stutts told 1819 News in an interview on Wednesday that he's noticed autism rates increasing throughout his career, but it's tough to pinpoint the cause.
"I watched (the press conference) with interest. Here's the problem: it's always hard to prove the cause and effect," Stutts said. "Autism is absolutely increasing. All sorts of attention deficit disorders on that spectrum, all those things have dramatically increased and autism is absolutely part of it. Does Tylenol cause it? Well, I don't know. Common things happen commonly. Most all of my career in OB, Tylenol was considered totally safe in pregnancy. Literally millions and millions and millions of people have taken Tylenol during their pregnancy so to say, 'Yeah, there is a statistical relationship' but that doesn't prove that that's the cause of it. An association doesn't prove cause and effect. If you took Tylenol and your child had autism, well, why did you take Tylenol? Did you have a viral infection, and you're running a fever, and you took Tylenol for your fever? What I'm saying is people didn't just take Tylenol in isolated circumstances. They had a reason for taking the Tylenol. There may be a statistical relationship but that doesn't prove that that's the cause."
Stutts continued, "Is it wise to keep any medication to a minimum during pregnancy? Absolutely. Could not agree more. I told people that all the time. There's these categories of drugs during pregnancy and things that are proven to be safe, and there's not very many things on that list."
"Autism is definitely on the increase but there are other factors like autism in male children outnumbers female children significantly. There are a lot more autistic boys than there are autistic girls. How do you explain that if Tylenol is causing it? What I'm saying is: it is a major concern, I want to know more about it. I'm not sold on that Tylenol is the cause. It may be associated with it, but again you have to ask the question: Why were you taking the Tylenol? 'Well, I had a viral infection and was running a fever.' Well, how do you know that the virus isn't what's causing the autism?" Stutts said. "You took Tylenol for a reason. You took the Tylenol because you were sick because you were running a fever because you got a vaccine and you ran a fever after you had the vaccine and you took Tylenol for your fever. There's so many factors in that that it's really, really difficult to prove a cause and effect."
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