Don't trust Trump': how UK health experts are fighting back against a war on medicine

"Wes Streeting, the UK health secretary, was in a government car heading back into central London from a flag-raising to mark the UK's recognition of Palestine when he saw the news. He was aghast, an aide said. Streeting was reading on his phone that Donald Trump had just warned women not to take Tylenol known outside the US as paracetamol during pregnancy."

"The US president had alleged without evidence that the common painkiller caused autism in children. Don't take Tylenol, Trump said about a drug also known as acetaminophen. The British government has been criticised for tiptoeing around Trump on all manner of issues. But not, it seems, on this. Streeting decided to devise a plan to limit the fallout in the UK and reassure mothers-to-be that taking paracetamol was safe. He decided to rebut publicly and vigorously what Trump had said."

"I trust doctors over President Trump, frankly, on this, he said. I've just got to be really clear about this: there is no evidence to link the use of paracetamol by pregnant women to autism in their children. None. So I would just say to people watching: don't pay any attention whatsoever to what Donald Trump says about medicine. In fact, don't even take my word for it, as a politician listen to British doctors, British scientists, the NHS. Wes Streeting."

Wes Streeting, the UK health secretary, encountered President Trump's unfounded warning that pregnant women should avoid Tylenol (paracetamol) and was aghast. He resolved to reassure mothers-to-be by rebutting the claim publicly and urging trust in doctors, scientists and the NHS. Streeting prepared for a breakfast-show appearance to make an unequivocal statement that there is no evidence linking paracetamol use during pregnancy to autism. The Department of Health and Social Care launched a coordinated media response, mobilising senior figures from regulatory bodies such as the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to communicate the scientific consensus.

Read at www.theguardian.com