MedPage Today October 10, 2025
Kennedy cited two studies, but neither offered proof of causality
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made yet another bold claim about acetaminophen (Tylenol), this time charging that circumcised boys were twice as likely to develop autism as those not circumcised, because they were given the painkiller.
Kennedy’s remarks came during a Cabinet meeting Thursday, weeks after he and President Donald Trump warned pregnant women not to take acetaminophen over an unproven link to autism.
While Kennedy did not cite specific research, he appeared to be referencing two older studies.
One was likely a 2015 Danish national cohort study published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. Among boys born between 1994 and 2003, those who were...
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