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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) has filed a lawsuit against the makers of Tylenol, an acetaminophen-based medication that the Trump administration has baselessly claimed is responsible for a rise in autism rates in the U.S. in recent years.
Paxton, who is running for U.S. Senate next year, issued a press release alongside the lawsuit claiming that his litigation is in line with President Donald Trump’s “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) initiative, which many critics have blasted for ignoring research and having a generally anti-science approach.
Paxton’s lawsuit targets Johnson & Johnson, the company that used to own Tylenol, and Kenvue, the company that spun off from Johnson & Johnson in 2023 and currently owns the brand. The attorney general claims that the companies “betrayed America by profiting off of pain and pushing pills regardless of the risks.”
“These corporations lied for decades, knowingly endangering millions to line their pockets,” Paxton said in a press release.
Notably, the main evidence Paxton cites in his presser is the Trump administration’s questionable statements about Tylenol in September. One analysis of the lawsuit noted that it echoes claims from plaintiffs in a previous federal lawsuit that was dismissed last year due to witnesses’ assertions being deemed unreliable.
Kenvue responded to Paxton’s lawsuit by saying it is “deeply concerned by the perpetuation of misinformation on the safety of acetaminophen and the potential impact that could have on the health of American women and children,” adding that Paxton’s action is “baseless.”
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which has supported Trump’s actions to relabel Tylenol and other products containing acetaminophen, has contradicted the president’s claims that the drug is dangerous, noting that “a causal relationship” between acetaminophen and post-birth autism rates “has not been established.”
Although Paxton’s lawsuit cites studies that suggest an association between acetaminophen use during pregnancy and autism may exist, these studies do not conclude any causal links and call for more investigations into the matter.
Approximately 1 in 31 children in the U.S. has autism, a stark rise from the rate seen in previous decades. Medical experts have said that higher rates are likely due to more effective screening processes and an expanded definition of autism.
Multiple studies suggest the connection between acetaminophen and autism is not a causal one. A recent analysis examining 46 separate studies, for example, advised against broad limitations of acetaminophen use during pregnancy, calling for a “balanced approach” for pregnant people to treat pain and fevers, and noting that leaving those symptoms untreated can lead to additional — and sometimes dangerous — complications. That analysis found an association in some studies but no causal link between acetaminophen use during pregnancy and post-birth autism and attention disorders. And a study released in Sweden this summer, examining 2.5 million children born between 1995 and 2019, found no correlation between acetaminophen use during pregnancy and autism in children.
Writing for Truthout earlier this month, public health researcher Lizzie Chadbourne excoriated the Trump administration for spreading misinformation regarding acetaminophen and autism in general.
The comments from Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. offer “a microcosm through which to understand the Trump administration’s larger public health agenda — a project fundamentally shaped by a patriarchal view of health and pregnancy, disregard for individuals’ bodily autonomy, the pathologization of neurodiversity, traditional gender roles, the moralization of illness and disability, and distrust of science and medicine,” she wrote.
Chadbourne also described the administration’s conclusions on acetaminophen as “sloppy” and based on “unsupported claims,” concluding:
Focusing on addressing structural factors, strengthening public assistance, and addressing environmental health and climate change would improve the health of everyone, especially autistic people. But these solutions don’t align with the agenda of the Trump administration to sow distrust in institutions and cut social services.
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