Checking the facts three statements that Trump made for autism

US President Donald Trump has attracted a condemnation of health experts after he tried to claim that he had a connection between the widely used painkiller and autism.

Accompanied by his health minister, Robert F Kennedy, Jr., Trump said doctors would soon be advised not to recommend the drug – called paracetamol in some other countries, including the UK – pregnant women.

The claims were attacked by medical experts. The American Obstetrician College said the announcement was “disturbing” and is not based on “reliable data”, while the National Autism Society of the United Kingdom called Trump’s statement “Dangerous, this is anti-scientific and irresponsible.”

BBC Verify examined some of the claims that Trump and Kennedy made during their White House press conference.

During the event, Trump listed a number of statistics, which he said show that autism diagnoses in the United States have been rapidly increasing over the last two decades.

First, the US president claims that the frequency has increased from about “one to 10,000 … Probably 18 years ago” to “One in 31” to 2025.

The final statistics quoted by Trump – that the percentages of autism have increased to one in 31 is correct. Data from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2022. found that the level of diagnoses among eight -year -olds in 16 US states.

Although this course has grown from 18 years ago, it has not grown from something similar to the figure quoted by Trump. Although there is no figure for 2007 – the year quoted by Trump – in 2006, the CDC estimated that the degree of autism in the US population was 1 in 110. In 2008 it is 1 in 88.

Most experts say that increasing the speed of autism can be mainly due to changes in the way the condition is diagnosed, as well as to the greater recognition of the condition and more people who are tested.

Trump also claims on Sunday that California has a “more serious problem” with autism than other countries studied by CDC.

The CDC estimated that in 2022, about 1 in 12 -year -old boys in California had autism – the highest percentage for boys in a survey in 16 US states.

But The Agency noted that the state has funded a local initiative Training of hundreds of local pediatricians “to forward and direct children to evaluate as early as possible, which can lead to more autism identification”.

Another statement of Trump is about the effects of the mumps, measles and rubella vaccine (MMR). The US president claims that vaccinations should be “taken separately”, not as a combined shot and that “it looks when you mix them, there may be a problem.”

Experts fear that if parents refrain from vaccinating their children as a result of his unfounded claims, this risks the recurrence of diseases such as measles.

The discredited idea that children’s vaccines are associated with autism are first acquired after a document published in 1998 at the Medical Journal of The Lancet by British doctor Andrew Wakefield.

It was later established that Wakefield has financial conflicts of interest – including that some of its test patients related to the litigation against vaccine companies – and the United Kingdom General Medical Council (GMC) found it falsifying its results. The research document was picked up and Wakefield was removed from GMC in 2010.

Numerous studies as they have not found a link between MMR vaccine and autism. The most – a high -quality study from Denmark in 2019 examines 657,461 children and concluded that the data did not support the MMR vaccine causing or activating autism.

On its website, CDC in the US recommends two doses of the combined MMR vaccine to be given to children, starting with the first dose of 12-15 months and the second between four and six years.

According to the UK government, there is no “no evidence” that JABS should be accepted separately. Notes that any decision for this would be experimental “S

This year, the United States has been watching the highest number of measles for more than three decades. According to the CDC, 1491 cases have been confirmed so far. Three people were killed.

“President Trump has not presented any evidence that the current immunization schedule in the United States is harmful and there is no evidence that giving the combined vaccine against MMR is dangerous,” said David Eliman, Assistant Professor of Children’s Health at London University College, “he said.

“Proponents of a link between MMR vaccine and autism cite the 1998 research book in Lanceta, whose first author was Andrew Wakefield,” he added. “In fact, the authors of the document made it clear in the document that they had not proven a connection, but suggested more research be done. This study was done and no evidence was found to have a connection.”

Experts also say that resolving time between JABS means that children are more likely to get illnesses in the intermediate or that it is more likely to miss meetings if there are multiple photos.

Trump pointed to the Amish as a group within the United States who have almost no autism within their community.

The Amish usually live in remote communities and refuse to perceive many characteristics of modern life, which can include suspicion of modern pharmaceuticals. Trump suggested – without providing evidence – that the low speed of use of tylenol within the group could lead to a lower degree of autism.

There are relatively few studies on the percentage of autism in the Amish community. Many children have been diagnosed at school-but most Amisha dropped out of school after eight grade, around the age of 14.

“I think it is very unlikely that there will be no people with autism among the Amish,” said Eva Lot, a professor of cognitive neuroscience at King’s College London, “BBC Crefify told.

“The question is, how many population studies have been conducted with the Amish? And are they for the Amish who are likely to seek a diagnosis? So there are a number of reasons why the reported numbers can be low, but that doesn’t mean there are no cases.”

In a 2010 study, a team of geneticists found autism that happened in approximately one in 271 Amish children. The survey checked 1899 children in two large Amish communities in Ohio and Indiana.

However, it is worth noting that studies on this topic are limited and we have not found any studies that suggest a link between the low immunization rates and the diagnosis of autism among the Amish people.

Trump has made a similar statement about the low levels of autism in Cuba – claiming that Tylenol’s supplies are low on the island as a cause.

It is not clear what President Trump is based on the claim. The BBC Verify cannot find official Cuban statistics and the World Health Organization (WHO) that “the spread of autism in many low and medium -income countries is unknown.”

Trump has periodically expressed concern about increasing the percentage of autism in children in the United States for almost 20 years. In 2007, he first publicly suggested that he believed there was a link between vaccines and increasing distribution.

The president has been interested in Kennedy’s work since at least 2017, when Kennedy said Trump asked him to manage the vaccine safety group. Seven years later, Kennedy – who then surveyed about 5% – was eliminated by his candidacy for the Presidency and approved Trump.

In the event of an expiration of Kennedy during the election campaign and in which the Republican tried to force the independent to support it – Trump was heard to discuss discredited allegations about the health risks of children’s vaccines. After the election Trump declared him his choice to lead the Ministry of Health and Human Services, with a mandate to “make America healthy again”.

However, during his first term, Trump supported some vaccine campaigns. During the measles of measles in 2019 in the United States, he said people “need to receive shots. Vaccinations are so important” and it was his administration that observed the rapid development and early implementation of Covid-19 vaccinations.

Additional Reporting: Joshua Cheethham