A Harvard researcher whose research about Tylenol’s results on pregnant girls underpinned President Trump’s Monday warning that expectant moms keep away from the drug was as soon as a paid skilled witness in a lawsuit in opposition to the producer — and was ripped by a federal decide for unreliable, sloppy work.
Dr. Andrea Baccarelli, the dean of the Ivy League establishment’s T.H. Chan Faculty of Public Well being, co-authored a research evaluation final month linking acetaminophen — the ache reliever’s lively ingredient — to neurodevelopmental issues together with autism.
The conclusion of the evaluation, first reported by The Occasions of London, warned pregnant girls to “restrict acetaminophen consumption to guard their offspring’s neurodevelopment.”
Meals and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary approvingly cited the evaluate throughout Monday’s announcement, insisting that the “overwhelming physique of proof factors to an affiliation” between Tylenol and autism.
“We can not wait any longer,” added Makary, quoting Baccarelli’s dire warning immediately.
President Trump echoed the FDA chief’s remarks, telling reporters from the Roosevelt Room: “With Tylenol, don’t take it! Don’t take it.”
Nevertheless, Baccarelli served as a paid skilled witness in an unsuccessful 2023 class-action swimsuit in opposition to Tylenol maker Kenvue, introduced by a gaggle of fogeys who claimed their kids’s ADHD and autism was a results of the moms taking the drug whereas pregnant.
Baccarelli was one in every of 5 skilled witnesses for the plaintiffs within the case — all of whom had their testimonies dismissed by a federal decide who deemed their conclusions “unbalanced.”
“The dialogue in his studies is incomplete, unbalanced and at occasions deceptive,” wrote Manhattan US District Choose Denise Cote. “Typically, Dr. Baccarelli downplays these research that undercut his causation thesis and emphasizes people who align along with his thesis.”
Cote additional discovered the skilled witnesses “haven’t served to enlighten however to obfuscate the weak spot of the proof on which they purport to rely and the contradictions within the analysis.”
Harvard confirmed to The Occasions that Baccarelli was a paid skilled witness, however wouldn’t disclose how a lot he was compensated.
In a press release shared with the White Home forward of Monday’s press convention, Baccarelli restated his “rigorous” Nationwide Institutes of Well being-funded evaluate of the potential dangers of acetaminophen use throughout being pregnant.
“Sufferers who want fever or ache discount throughout being pregnant ought to take the bottom efficient dose of acetaminophen, for the shortest potential period, after session with their doctor about their particular person risk-benefit calculation,” he wrote.
Different research have proven a hyperlink between autism and prenatal use of Tylenol, however the scientific group has severe misgivings about their findings.
The Coalition for Autism Scientists, which incorporates greater than 250 American researchers, informed the outlet that the administration’s warnings concerning the drug “don’t assist the declare that Tylenol causes autism … and solely stoke worry and falsely recommend hope when there isn’t a easy reply.”
