🔗 Share this article

The top legal official in Texas Ken Paxton is suing the makers of Tylenol, claiming the corporations withheld safety concerns that the pain reliever posed to pediatric cognitive development.

This legal action comes four weeks after President Donald Trump publicized an unsubstantiated connection between consuming acetaminophen - referred to as acetaminophen - while pregnant and autism spectrum disorder in children.

Paxton is suing J&J, which once produced the medication, the only pain reliever suggested for pregnant women, and the current manufacturer, which presently makes it.

In a declaration, he stated they "betrayed America by profiting off of discomfort and marketing drugs regardless of the risks."

The company asserts there is no credible evidence tying Tylenol to autism.

"These manufacturers misled for generations, knowingly endangering numerous people to increase profits," the attorney general, from the Republican party, stated.

Kenvue said in a statement that it was "deeply concerned by the dissemination of inaccurate information on the safety of paracetamol and the possible consequences that could have on the health of American women and children."

On its official site, the company also said it had "regularly reviewed the pertinent research and there is lacking reliable evidence that demonstrates a established connection between consuming acetaminophen and autism spectrum disorder."

Groups representing physicians and medical practitioners agree.

ACOG has said paracetamol - the primary component in Tylenol - is one of the few options for expectant mothers to address discomfort and fever, which can pose serious health risks if ignored.

"In multiple decades of studies on the utilization of acetaminophen in pregnancy, not a single reputable study has successfully concluded that the consumption of acetaminophen in any trimester of pregnancy results in neurodevelopmental disorders in young ones," the organization stated.

This legal action cites current declarations from the Trump administration in arguing the medication is allegedly unsafe.

Last month, the former president raised alarms from health experts when he advised expectant mothers to "fight like hell" not to consume Tylenol when sick.

Federal regulators then published an announcement that doctors should contemplate reducing the usage of Tylenol, while also stating that "a direct connection" between the medication and autism in young ones has remains unverified.

The Health Department head Kennedy, who manages the Food and Drug Administration, had promised in spring to conduct "a massive testing and research effort" that would identify the cause of autism in a limited time.

But specialists advised that discovering a single cause of autism spectrum disorder - thought by researchers to be the consequence of a complicated interplay of inherited and surrounding conditions - would be difficult.

Autism spectrum disorder is a form of lifelong neurodivergence and disability that affects how individuals encounter and interact with the surroundings, and is identified using physician assessments.

In his legal document, the attorney general - aligned with the former president who is campaigning for federal office - alleges the manufacturer and Johnson & Johnson "willfully ignored and sought to suppress the science" around acetaminophen and autism spectrum disorder.

The lawsuit seeks to make the firms "eliminate any marketing or advertising" that states Tylenol is reliable for pregnant women.

This legal action echoes the grievances of a group of mothers and fathers of children with autism and ADHD who filed suit against the producers of Tylenol in 2022.

A federal judge threw out the lawsuit, declaring investigations from the family's specialists was inconclusive.