"Acetaminophen has been available since the 1950s and in everyone's medicine cabinet for so long that some of us treat it as a part of a food group. Now, surprisingly, it's in the news. Much has already been said by the medical community about the veracity of recent claims by Secretary Robert Kennedy about its connection to autism. As a former member of the Harvard Autism Consortium, I can state with certainty that there is no evidence that acetaminophen causes autism."
"Until recently, no one knew that mechanism of action of this widely used over-the-counter drug. The FDA only assures us that the acetaminophen, as with any other drug, is relatively safe and relatively effective. No drug is 100% safe for everyone, and no drug is 100% effective for everyone. In addition, the FDA does not require that science knows its mechanism of action."
Acetaminophen has been widely available since the 1950s and is commonly used as an over-the-counter analgesic. The precise mechanism of its pain relief was not clearly known until recently. The drug is metabolized to p-aminophenol, which is lipid soluble and crosses the blood–brain barrier to interact with the endocannabinoid system. Endocannabinoids mimic THC and influence pain signaling. Acetaminophen both enhances one part of the endogenous cannabis system and reduces a second component to produce analgesia. These pharmacologic effects may relate to why cannabis shows promise for treating autism-related symptoms, and there is no evidence that acetaminophen causes autism.
Read at Psychology Today
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