'
Trump is not the first to encourage an unproven claim about autism. Why are they so penetrating?
International

Trump is not the first to encourage an unproven claim about autism. Why are they so penetrating?

author
8 minutes, 22 seconds Read

When President Donald Trump of the United States said there was a connection between mothers who used Tylenol (paracetamol) and “a very increased risk of autism” in children, he added fuel to a fire of mis- and disinformation that has been raging for years.
Trump, flanked by his health secretary Robert F Kennedy JR and TV doctor Die-Healthcare administrator Mehmet OZ, have become, said taking paracetamol “not good” And suggested without proof that autism does not appear in communities where it was not used on a large scale.
Trump’s comments came only a few months after Kennedy, which is generally considered a vaccine sepheptic Although he has disputed that he is “anti-vaccine”, he had sworn to find the “cause” of autism by September. Many surprised that promise, given that decades of research has not set any cause for the neurological condition.

It is not surprising that Trump’s comments have received a strong pushback from doctors and other members of the medical community. The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday that there was no convincing scientific evidence that a possible connection confirmed between autism and the use of paracetamol during pregnancy.

There is no proof of a causal relationship between the use of paracetamol during pregnancy and the development of autism or ADHD in children. Source: MONKEY / AP / Jae C. Hong

In Australia, the link was strongly rejected by the Therapeutic Goods Administration and Chief Medical Officer Michael Kidd.

“Robust scientific evidence shows no causal link between the use of paracetamol during pregnancy and autism or ADHD, whereby various large and reliable studies contradict these claims directly,” said the drug regulator in a statement on Tuesday.
The guidelines of the American Federal Drug Administration that Trump announced was also more cautious in her language than that of the American president. It said that doctors warned about studies that suggest a correlation between the use of acetaminophen during pregnancy and the subsequent diagnosis of conditions such as autism and ADHD (attention defense hyperactivity disorder).
But it noted that although a connection between acetaminophen and neurological disorders in studies had been described, a causal relationship had not been established and there were opposing studies.
Andrew Whitehouse, the deputy director of research and a professor in autism research at the Kids Research Institute Australia, said that Trump’s claims “in the best case were a wrong reading of science” and “in the worst case a total abuse of science”.
“There are absolute studies that have shown that taking paracetamol during pregnancy is associated with an increased chance of the descendants of that pregnancy and the diagnosis is made autism. But there are also studies that do not show association, and even studies that demonstrate the opposite,” he told SBS News.

“But what none of those studies has shown is in any way, shape or shape.”

A large Swedish study from 2024, considered one of the highest quality, found no connection between the use of paracetamol during pregnancy and the risk of autism, ADHD or intellectual disability. The study looked at nearly 2.5 million children born in the country between 1995 and 2019, with nearly 186,000 children exposed to paracetamol during pregnancy.

Why are non-evidence-based claims about autism so normal?

Trump is far from the first person who pushes an unproven causal link for autism, a neurological disorder that influences how the brains of a person develops and functions, and is often characterized by atypical patterns of activities and behaviors and differences in processing and communicating sensory information.
According to the WHO, people with autism can experience some degree of difficulties with social interaction, and vary the skills and needs of autistic people and can evolve over time. It said that although some people with autism live independently, others experience serious disabilities and require lifelong care and support.
For decades there have been attempts to find a simplistic answer why some people experience autism, despite the widespread acceptance in the scientific and medical community that contributes to complex, multi-factoral combination of genetic and environmental factors.

The 1950s gave rise to the ‘refrigerator mother’, thus discredited: that a lack of warmth from someone’s parents – and in particular their mothers – could explain an autism diagnosis. Such theory has largely been abandoned since the 1970s, with subsequent studies that link the diagnosis to genetics.

More recently, anti-vaccin activists have spread disinformation that falsely link autism to vaccination in an attempt to discourage its use, or suggest without evidence that they have a snode use.
Both Trump and Kennedy are among the public figures who have promoted the theory – in contrast to scientific evidence – that vaccines in children are a cause of autism. That idea stems from a Debunk study by the British researcher Andrew Wakefield in the late nineties that an increase in autism diagnoses connected with widespread use of the measles vaccine.
No rigorous studies have found connections between autism and vaccines or medicines, or their components such as Thimerosal or Formaldehyde.
The causes of autism are still relatively unclear, but there is a widespread speculation among scientists that its neurological characteristics can arise in the womb.
Research suggests that genetic factors up to 80 percent of the chance of developing autism are good, and a growing research area focuses on epigenetics – the interactions between genetic and environmental factors.
So why does autism seem so susceptible – perhaps more than any other condition – to claims about the causes that are not based on concrete evidence? Why do some go to easy answers about a condition that is still a mystery to us in many ways?
Whitehouse says there are two reasons. First, the “pure high emotion” is around autism, especially when it comes to children.

“There is a very desirable, very popular, much appreciated and cherished child. The parents see that that child is developing differently, and there is no very easy reason to describe and explain why that happened,” he said.

A man who wears a white shirt, who stands for green bushes.

Andrew Whitehouse said that an “information-laid” non-evidence-based claims and conspiracy theories had flourished around autism. Source: Delivered

That offers enough space, said Whitehouse, for people to push wrong information that attributes a single cause for the development of autism-bombard well-meaning, others who are “out and out of charlatans”.

“The second reason is because we have allowed it. There is no other area of ​​health and medicines that could not exist alone such low standard claims, but bloom without a very strong push against it,” he said.
“But in the field of autism, historically there are not the high standards of evidence that is needed to make such claims. It only gets better if we expect and not only accept higher levels of standard autism.”
Whitehouse said that a lack of proven, simplistic explanation, in combination with a generally low standard for evidence, had created an “leegte” that could flourish non-evidence-based claims and conspiracy theories.
Stephen Robson, an honorary doctorate at the Anu School of Medicine and Psychology, said in the same way that autism is a condition that we still “do not fully understand”, so that people try to fill in holes.

“The conspiracy theorist looks at the gorge and [sees] Some mal intent or something filthy going, “he said.” The researcher sees the gap and says: can I find out what it is? I think that’s the fundamental difference. “

‘Nothing wrong’ with being autistic

Under the rhetoric that surrounds autism and its causes, it is important to keep in mind that autism is not an abstract concept, but a condition that influences the lives of tens of millions of people around the world, their families and supporters.
In a certain part, Trump’s latest comments remember the ‘fridge mother’ theories of decades ago – that autism is not a developmental state, but a parental and specific maternal, misstep.

That kind of framing is “inherent sexist”, David Tonge, CEO of Support Organization Amaze, told SBS News earlier this week, prior to Trump’s announcement. “This is a treacherous discussion line that is hurtful to mothers,” he said.

Robson said that Trump’s comments had “strengthened” two layers of stigmatization: firstly the idea that parents of children with whom a neurological disorder had been established as autism “had done something wrong” in their upbringing.
Whitehouse in particular noted that mothers “had often placed a very low social debt about that early development phase”.
All attempts to validate that debt without evidence were “horrible,” Whitehouse, said that in the days since Trump’s comments he had been contacted by several families who were very sad because of the comments.
The other level of stigmatization that is accompanied by attempts to find single reasoning or “healing” for autism is the perception that something is inherently wrong with being autistic.

That idea is one who rejects many in the autism community: that it is not their condition that switches off, but the neurotypical social structures and harmful attitudes that surround them.

‘If you hear the president say:’ I would fight as hell not to take [paracetamol]”It suggests that autism in itself is a bad thing, and that it is something you have to fight,” said Robson.
“I think that for the community of people affected by autism, for those who love them and take care of them, this is another stigmatization. You have one of the most powerful people in the world who says what you have, something is fighting against, and that is terrible for people.”
The Australian activist Grace Tame, who is autistic, responded to Trump’s comments in a video posted on Instagram shortly after they were made.
“[Autism] Can not be prevented, expanded or healed, and that does not have to be. There is nothing inherent with being autistic.
“It is a difference in receiving, processing and communicating sensory information that can be switched off, depending on external factors.
“Although we cannot change an autistic person, we can change their environment to better support their needs.”
– With additional reporting by Reuters.

#Trump #encourage #unproven #claim #autism #penetrating

Similar Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *