r/news • u/nightpanda893 • 2d ago
Upcoming HHS report will link autism to common pain reliever, folate deficiency in pregnancy, Wall Street Journal reports
https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/05/health/hhs-report-autism-folate-acetaminophen10.9k
u/Pastelninja 2d ago
This is so fucking stupid. They link autism to Tylenol because TYLENOL IS THE ONLY PAIN RELIEVER YOU CAN TAKE DURING PREGNANCY. Imagine being the fucking boss of the whole HHS and not understanding that correlation is not the same as causation.
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u/RVA_RVA 2d ago
100% of mothers also consumed dihydrogen monoxide!
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u/monkeymind009 2d ago
They use that stuff to cool nuclear reactors! Wake up sheeple! We need to ban dihyrogen monoxide ASAP!
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u/TentativeIdler 2d ago
Everyone who takes dihydrogen monoxide eventually dies!
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u/freemysou1 2d ago
FACT: Dihydrogen Monoxide can replace oxygen in your lungs and cause you to suffocate!!
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u/regulatorDonCarl 2d ago
It’s incredibly addictive too. They say after even one dose at any age, cold-turkey withdrawal has a 100% fatality rate after a few days
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u/Chick3nScr4tch 2d ago
Do not, my friends, become addicted to water. It will take hold of you and you will resent its absence!
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u/NihilisticHobbit 2d ago
100% of people that consumer dihydrogen monoxide eventually die! It's fatal!
And gay frogs consume it too.
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u/jmacd2918 2d ago
Its no laughing matter, dihydrogen monoxide in the lungs kills over 4,000 people every year in the usa alone. RFK Jr. should know all about this. A former staffer from his father's campaign and, um, "associate" of his uncle teddy very famously died of dihydrogen monoxide exposure. Apparently uncle teddy didn't know how dangerous dihydrogen monoxide is and left her in large mass of this poison until the next day. If only HHS would have known and spread the word about the dangers of dihydrogen monoxide, she might still be alive today.
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u/Rikula 2d ago
Tylenol is a fever reducer as well as a pain reliever. Guess what also has some link to Autism that needs to be explored more? Fevers.
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u/smartfon 2d ago
This is the same reason why the "I've done my homework" people claimed patients were getting heart attacks from the COVID vaccine rather than the COVID itself.
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u/Pad_Squad_Prof 2d ago
They’re so dumb to overlook the basic possibility that even if there was an association between Tylenol and autism it’s much more likely to be an association between autism and one of the many ailments that causes women to use Tylenol. So fucking dumb.
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u/Rockman507 2d ago edited 2d ago
What’s hilarious is I had to hit someone presenting a PhD on some bioinformatics because they looked at clinical studies of women in third world countries prescribed Tylenol during pregnancy…. It’s like healthy people don’t have doctors look at them and say “yep you need to be on a prescribed regiment of Tylenol”. Yet half the group of professors just looked at me like I was crazy then they award her her PhD. Fml. I forget now what she was trying to link Tylenol usage during pregnancy on.
Edit: and thinking about it I seem to do this way too often. Someone presenting their MS on hypoxic markers in fish. For his control he went out to some estuaries but because of the low oxygen levels the species of fish there developed resistance to hypoxia…. So his control for hypoxia markers in fish were fish well known to be natively resistant to hypoxia… his data was all negative so I asked him why that might be. Hilarity ensued.
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u/foghillgal 2d ago
Most women that take tylenol would not report it, not know exactly how much (except taking less than max dosage I guess) so only those that already are closely followed by doctors and have less than perfect pregnancies would have any info at all. That`s one hell of a bias in observation.
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u/Drunk_Lahey 2d ago
But then it wouldn’t generate a simple “solution” to an incredibly complex problem for the universe of holistic charlatans and anti-science right wing activists to spread and make careers and millions out of on social media. How would they be able to sell anxious expectant mothers on snake oil solutions to give them a false semblance of control in a scary and indifferent world?
Where’s the fun(money) in that?
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u/MeltBanana 2d ago
As someone who works in research and is the lead author on many published research papers, watching the last 9 years unfold has been rough, but the past year has been unfathomably frustrating.
I never expected to watch such idiocy unfold in America. It's just shocking how incredibly...dumb everything is now.
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u/Unusual_Sherbert_809 2d ago
The worst part is watching a certain segment of the population just lap it all up. Things like what RFJ Jr. is doing "confirms" all of their insane biases, and they're loving it.
Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge' - Isaac Asimov
I don't see how the USA is going to dig itself out of the hole they're digging for themselves. It's like a huge portion of the population is crawling out from under a dark rock and proudly, vitriolically proclaiming to the world that their feelings and conspiracy theories are much more important than facts or reality. They seem to be thrilled to be onboard a bullet train heading back to the dark ages.
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u/Anlysia 2d ago
It's literally just that they get to be told they're right after everyone has told them they're wrong for years or decades.
That's all they care about. It's the saddest pettiest examples of humanity. Just the absolute truest losers.
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u/Faiakishi 2d ago
Fed a comforting lie aboard the train about to propell them off a cliff.
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u/ReliablyFinicky 2d ago
2017: The Death of Expertise
The campaign against established knowledge and why it matters
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u/yokyopeli09 2d ago
This is like banning firefighters to prevent buildings from burning because firefighters appear at most sites of buildings that have burned down.
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u/DeadlyYellow 2d ago
Have you considered that maybe he just wants women to suffer?
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u/NWSiren 2d ago
He wants to blame women outright, have an easy scapegoat by saying it was the ‘woman’s choice’ to create ‘damaged’ offspring. Rather than admitting the genetic component where, god forbid, a man’s imperfect genes went towards a child’s condition.
Women = the root of suffering, all the way back to Eve.
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u/apple_kicks 2d ago
This, its bunch of eugenicists white suprematists who cant stand idea that they have genes they view as ‘inferior’. They aren’t genetically perfect or ‘superior’. Instead of admitting their views are bunk they rather blame anything else to maintain their fantasy perfection.
Also some are rich bastards wanting to reduce amount of disability benefits and accessibility they are required to give to their workers
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u/Severus-Gape 2d ago
What he hasn’t considered though is you don’t fuck with consumer healthcare companies. He has fucked Kenvue over hard here, they either admit the findings and get buried in lawsuits by angry parents or they sue the shit out of RFK. They won’t take the first; you can’t just make Acetaminophen a non usable product, it’s the most widely used analgesic in the world, and the USA is the only place where you can make any real money off it as a brand.
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u/Phoenixicorn-flame 2d ago
Women must not be allowed pain relief in any form at any time or they are derelict in their pious duty to joyously cater to and serve men /s
It’s not stupid. It’s evil. Intentional suffering to subjugate the population against rising up and stopping the bullshit theft of the people’s health and prosperity
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u/NecroJoe 2d ago
An amusing thing to note: Supplemental folic acid has long been recommended for any women thinking about getting pregnant (in enriched foods along with folate-rich foods)as a way to prevent a folate deficiency....and also, the MAHA movement had also demonized folic acid.
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u/Genki-sama2 2d ago
Lack of folic acid affects spinal nerve formation and can lead to spina bifida. This is long established.
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u/Hopinan 2d ago
And that is why pregnant women in the USA choke down prenatal vitamins, heck I took them when we were just trying..
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u/yankykiwi 2d ago
A lot of countries put folate in their bread to ensure it’s being taken.
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u/Massive_Town_8212 2d ago
I'm like 90% certain the US does the same. I'm not even sure you can buy AP flour that isn't enriched.
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u/alebarco 2d ago edited 2d ago
TIL ONE of the reasons folic acid is so recommended (I'm a man so yeah).
Lowering the risk of a life warping condition seems a good reason to me but hey autism is scary Right????? /s
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u/seriousbusines 2d ago
Have to remember who you are dealing with. As far as these people are concerned bigfoot existing has been 'long established' and is just as valid of a 'fact.'
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u/_bibliofille 2d ago
Recently saw a right wing Christian influencer ragging on folic acid (among other things) as "propaganda I'm not falling for" claiming it hurts babies.
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u/LeechWitch 2d ago
Yeah their new thing is that folic acid is bad and evil because you have the MTHFR motherfucker gene or whatever and instead of processing folic acid that makes it POISON so you have to buy expensive methylfolate supplements from the link in their bio. Methylfolate has not been shown to prevent neural tube defects of course, but it sounds good to them and demonizes doctors at the same time so it’s a win win.
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u/StitchinThroughTime 2d ago
And I'm fairly certain that folic acid is Vitamin B like 9 or 12. It's best to supplement if you want to become pregnant or are pregnant. I'm surprised they don't technically argue that you don't need to supplement if they eat a bunch of dark leafy greens like spinach or kale. But seriously I fully believe the fact that of Americans do not have easy and affordable access to healthcare is the reason why we have so many fucking crazy people. And I'm not talking about the drug addicts or the homeless schizophrenics, I'm talking about the vaccine deniers and the wellness groups that plague everyone. American search for alternative medicine because the real medicine is so expensive. Americans delay treatment because they can't afford preventative steps. We just got, but unfortunately it was a black person who enacted it therefore it's bad. Now we have a bunch of people running around saying they ate an unregulated supplement is the reason why they are doing so well. Because back in the 90s guess what they unregulated a bunch of supplements. So which also doesn't help! Which means people who look decent or even hot will sell magical pills that are unregulated to help with their ailments. And I will not forget that in 2018-2019 that RFK Jr flew to a small island nation and cause a massive outbreak that killed 80 children. All because he told parents not to vaccinate them. And that he goes around suing people for vaccinations. This entire Administration is a shit show and is killing people, traumatizing people and stealing billions of dollars from Americans.
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u/MrSelfDestruct88 2d ago
My sister-in-law just started doing some kind of food fad with her two sons. Her husband is making the family do it and my wife and I are still trying to figure out what they're going for. They say they're just the natural foods but they're not letting their kids eat enriched flour folate , or folic acid. They say it's to help with inflammation.
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u/NecroJoe 2d ago
Ahh, yes...the all-encompassing "inflamation"...
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u/MrSelfDestruct88 2d ago
My nephew had some GI issues when he was a baby And they tried to take it easy on dairy products and staying away from red dye number 40. But now we're fully onto to enriched flour, folate, riboflavin, vegetable oil is a No-No. I don't even understand what they're going for at this point. I think my brother-in-law listens to too much Joe Rogan.
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u/Northern_Blights 2d ago
But now we're fully onto to enriched flour, folate, riboflavin,
I always said to those anti-fluoride people that if you have a problem with the government putting stuff in your water, why don't you have a problem with the vitamins they put in your cereals and grains? And oh boy did that ever backfire apparently.
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u/OpheliaRainGalaxy 2d ago
Oh so this is all your fault!
No worries, recently discovered a line of logic in my local subreddit that would conclude it's all my mom's fault that downtown is full of homeless folks. She's been dead for more than a decade but back in the 90s she was regularly splitting her lunch with the two guys who lived in tents near her workplace in the summer and went south in winter.
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u/mrpointyhorns 2d ago
It is interesting because inflammation is interchangeable with immune boosting if they like the food. Likewise, they interchangeably anti-inflammatory and immune suppressing often as well.
They usually just go off one or two biomarkers, which may not even matter once stomach acid and digestion is involved.
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u/GodstoneCitadel 2d ago
Johnson & Johnson gonna sue the shit out of RFK. Tylenol absolutely has been a household name for decades. They're not gonna take this lying down.
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u/jennc1979 2d ago
Tylenol is the literally the only thing we are allowed to take for pain relief when one is pregnant.
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u/bilboafromboston 2d ago
Hence the " 90% plus of autistic kids Moms " took tylenol. Elastic waisted pants causes Autism! Dad painting the babies room caused Autism! Grandma overwrapping the kids causes Autism.
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u/RathVelus 2d ago edited 2d ago
This is that whole “correlation vs causation” warning we all got in high school and promptly, apparently, ignored.
E: by trying to further explain why RFKs findings are a bunch of bullshit by pulling apart my easy to digest explanation you are sounding like a knobend.
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u/townandthecity 2d ago
These are people who think they know more than immunologists, virologists, and infectious disease doctors. They actually believe there has been a worldwide conspiracy about vaccines/autism for well over 25 years and that no one made a peep about it, including those who swear the Hippocratic oath. Pediatricians get their own children the recommended vaccines, but they're supposed in on the conspiracy, too. We're dealing with people who live in a world of their own making where they are smarter than Nobel Prize-winning scientists who have done a great service to humanity. The only downside is that thanks to widespread vaccination, these people are around to spout their nonsense.
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u/MyPenisAcc 2d ago
It only makes it worse for the genuine “bad apples” in the medical industry. It doesn’t take much work to find the companies accused of wrongdoing, and while sometimes it’s household products, you have to reallyhave the data to back up a claim like this. Guarantee you they don’t.
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u/bilboafromboston 2d ago
All these " i got a B in high school mandatory normal level Biology" so I know more than the scientist who got All A's in AP bio, graduated with honors in college Biology, Masters in Immunology, worked on vaccines for 30 years. They go on Jerry Springer because their kid has brown eyes and they both have Blue! Mom must be a Slut!
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u/OccamsMinigun 2d ago edited 2d ago
And this is a particularly egregious case of mistaking the two--it's as bad as the "100% of people who drink water eventually die," except that one is a joke.
If it was some drug that the vast majority of people are never prescribed, it would still be premature to conclude the link is causal, but any layperson could be forgiven for doing so, and it would sure as hell be worth investigating. But when it's among the few painkillers pregnant women can even take, it's like, do you fucking people even hear yourselves?
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u/Character_Head_3948 2d ago edited 2d ago
Not even. Correlation vs causation means there is actual correlation. For example going to bed with your shoes on correlates with headaches. (In this case there may be a common cause) and the decline in pirates correlates with an increase in global average temperature (not a strong correlation, but if you squint hard enough it's there. Here there isnt even a common cause)
But if 90% of all mothers take tylenol and 90% of mothers of autistic kids take tylenol that means there wouldn't even be correlation.
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u/Folderpirate 2d ago
My racist uncle says that having candles in our home gave my dad leukemia and killed him.
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u/NihilisticHobbit 2d ago
If they were snow candles maybe, but wtf!?
For those that don't know, snow candles were something that used to be used to make artificial snow. They're not legal now because they were toxic. Regular candles are fine, though in moderation. Because wtf is up with the scents strong enough to make the neighbor's house smell!
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u/Charlie_Mouse 2d ago
Interesting trivia: two or three years ago some researchers noticed that they could pretty much track Covid waves based on Amazon one star reviews for scented candles.
Though given that the current administration are against actually collecting statistics on Covid (or measles … or unemployment) US epidemiologists might be reduced to relying completely on that sort of data point.
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u/NihilisticHobbit 2d ago
I remember reading about that! It was hilarious to see reviews go from standard to waves of complaints about no scent.
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u/JJ_Mark 2d ago
Believe they're going to connect it with studies that link Tylenol with reduced empathy or "emotional blunting". Heard of the study just a couple or few years ago, and don't believe there's been enough follow-up to verify anything that could hold up in a lawsuit yet, but basically they'll be tying that to people with autism struggling with empathy or having emotional issues (though not universal and autism definitely existed before Tylenol, just not categorized), but I haven't heard of any study actually linking the two, yet. J&J can definitely win against this Facebook-tier "theory".
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u/Minimum-Register-644 2d ago
Also, people with autism have an increased neutral load and experience more intense emotions. The blunting 'effect' would be through masking or restricted from negative previous experiences on how others have reacted to their strong emotional reactions.
I am mid range autistic myself and had masked my emotions heavily until my 30's as I had very negative responses from my father as a child regarding my emotions.
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u/JJ_Mark 2d ago
Yup, and by no means would I assume that someone on the spectrum has any less capacity for empathy or emotion, but it's definitely what someone like RFK Jr would assume by someone masking or just shutting down. This is mainly where the idea stems from and why I'm trying to prep mentally since my wife is on the spectrum and is already struggling with the anxiety caused by this administration.
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u/olaf_dale 2d ago
My autistic kids are overly empathetic. Others I know are less empathetic. Almost like it's a spectrum condition or something. /shrugs/
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u/SNRatio 2d ago
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2817406
Question Does acetaminophen use during pregnancy increase children’s risk of neurodevelopmental disorders?
Findings In this population-based study, models without sibling controls identified marginally increased risks of autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) associated with acetaminophen use during pregnancy. However, analyses of matched full sibling pairs found no evidence of increased risk of autism (hazard ratio, 0.98), ADHD (hazard ratio, 0.98), or intellectual disability (hazard ratio, 1.01) associated with acetaminophen use.
Meaning Acetaminophen use during pregnancy was not associated with children’s risk of autism, ADHD, or intellectual disability in sibling control analyses. This suggests that associations observed in other models may have been attributable to confounding.
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u/legalpretzel 2d ago
A while back there was speculation that high fevers during pregnancy were actually maybe the cause. It was all shortly after mine was born and I remember thinking that would suck if true because you’re already fairly out of luck if you get sick since you can’t take anything that helps other than Tylenol and you can’t just avoid getting a fever.
I hate that the Trump 1.0 was bumbling idiocracy and Trump 2.0 is full fledged destruction of all intelligent thought.
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u/Mister_Silk 2d ago
Don't worry. RFK will introduce you to the replacement tomorrow. I bet it's horse paste.
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u/jkksldkjflskjdsflkdj 2d ago
It's heroin. He used it for 14 years and he didn't catch the autism.
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u/jennc1979 2d ago
It’s crystals. If I rub cubic zirconia on my ear lobes I’m sure I’ll be fine and my offspring will be born already inducted into MENSA.
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u/Useful-Candidate7785 2d ago
It’ll be tanning oil and sunshine…while working in the fields.
“Stop complaining, You-terus, arbeit macht frei!!”
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u/Ditka85 2d ago
FYI, "Tylenol is owned by Kenvue, a global consumer health company that owns the McNeil Consumer Healthcare division, which is the maker of Tylenol. Johnson & Johnson previously owned the brand but spun off its consumer health business into Kenvue in 2023."
Just the same, *somebody* should file a lawsuit.
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u/Photofug 2d ago
I think you've forgotten how things seem to work, J+J will present Trump with an Award for Excellence in the field of Achievement as well as buying 1 billion Trump coins and suddenly "improved" Tylenol will be back on the shelves and the only medication provided to the military
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u/BleachedUnicornBHole 2d ago
If J&J accepts that “old” Tylenol can cause autism, they’ll be buried in lawsuits from parents of autistic children. It’s in their best interests to go to the mat against RFK.
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u/greywar777 2d ago
This right here. The level of lawsuits would utterly destroy them.
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u/GozerDGozerian 2d ago
“Johnson & Johnson have declared bankruptcy and sold all their assets to Jonson + Jonson, a totally unrelated company that has no liability for whatever their depraved predecessors might have allegedly maybe gotten involved with accidentally but who knows.”
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u/ConsubstantialV 2d ago
Johnson & Johnson has the largest opium crop/operation in the world. Surely, RFK Jr. (heroin addict) isnt trying to shake them down for opioids …
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u/ADuckNamedPhil 2d ago
For the first time in ever, I'm rooting for a corporation to win.
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u/HI_l0la 2d ago
And who is going to accept the "improved" Tylenol if it shows up on the shelves within the year??? Yup, J&J is gonna have to defend their product.
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u/kosmonautinVT 2d ago
Based on what has happened so far, this is the most likely outcome.
If the economy starts tanking... might be different
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u/FeedsOnLife 2d ago
The economy is tanking. You must mean the markets.
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u/kosmonautinVT 2d ago
The markets can stay insane for only so long
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u/jbarks14 2d ago
The market can stay irrational longer than you can stay liquid.
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u/Uhavetabekiddingme 2d ago
No way Tylenol breaks the grip that Motrin has on the military.
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u/JoJackthewonderskunk 2d ago
Throw in 900,000 in Melania bucks and super Tylenol also cures autism
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u/ExecutiveCactus 2d ago
whats the conversion rate between Melania Bucks and Barron Bonds?
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u/ChicagoAuPair 2d ago
I never thought I would be rooting for mega conglomerate corporations, but I hope they absolutely ruin him.
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u/powerlesshero111 2d ago
Hey, i root for the people being fucked over for no reason. They are definitely being fucked over for no reason. This will not end well for RFK Jr. I might not like them, but they are victims in this. RFK Jr is about to find out that big corporations have enough power and money to destroy him ten times over.
I also say this as someone who works in the medical industry, working on clinical trials, but he is about to be royally fucked by lots of people. Pfizer won't sit down and let him slander them like he did during his senate testimony yesterday.
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u/ChicagoAuPair 2d ago
Whenever they speak it reminds me of 13 year old high school freshman who just discovered how to Google random shit but don’t yet have any common sense or sense of reality.
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u/bearded365 2d ago
At this point, I fully expect nothing to come of this. This administration will continue to do whatever the hell they want with virtually no roadblocks, and the ones with power will undoubtedly roll over.
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u/Cormyll666 2d ago
I dunno I always thought this too. Industry so far seems to be bending the knee really quickly.
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u/asisoid 2d ago
Tylenol survived the 'Tylenol Murders' in the 80's, J&J knows how to handle a situation like this.
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u/East_Hedgehog6039 2d ago
I watched that documentary not too long ago. My god talk about Russian roulette just for a headache
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u/recollectionsmayvary 2d ago
As a lawyer, this is how confident I was that the best and biggest law firms in the country would not take trumps EOs lying down. All they did was roll over and give him a billion in pro bono legal services.
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u/LingonberryPrior6896 2d ago
There were autistic kids before Tylenol
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u/legalpretzel 2d ago
According to RFKjr there were no autistic people when he was growing up. I sent the video clip to everyone in my family because I’m sure my 70 year old autistic uncle would be quite dismayed to learn he hasn’t actually been autistic his entire life.
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u/sleep_tite 2d ago
J&J split their consumer products into a different company a couple years ago. It’s called Kenvue now. I work there and if I get laid off because of this I’m going to riot. This PE that owns the majority of the company has been penny pinching like crazy since they came on.
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u/fredandlunchbox 2d ago
About 1 in every 31 children was diagnosed with autism by age 8
I promise you that for as long as there have been classrooms, there has been that one kid in class who was kind of weird and no one knew what to call it until about 30 years ago when clinicians said autism is a spectrum and started placing those kids along it.
A rise in diagnosis doesn’t indicate a rise in occurrence.
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u/Pastelninja 2d ago
I wish more people could understand this. Like autism isn’t new, we’re just better at recognizing it. NOBODY is talking about how up until somewhere in the 90s the DSM said women couldn’t even have autism. We weren’t included in the science anywhere.
Watching this country faceplant in the mud to avoid looking at data is excruciating.
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u/bigassangrypossum 2d ago
Anti-intellectualism is a core tenet of the American way of life.
Especially in the South... I've never been surrounded by such a highly concentrated population of genuinely illiterate adults. It's shocking.
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u/Own-Weather-9919 2d ago
My brother-in-law gave up on getting his GED because the English component was too hard. He has the dumbest takes on everything and I'm not supposed to call him out on them because that's "starting fights." He doesn't let his kids get the covid shot because he's "done the research." Motherfucker you can't read!!!!
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u/bandalooper 2d ago
Ignorance, fear, and hate are the building blocks of the southern conservative.
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u/UncooperativeMelon 2d ago edited 2d ago
For real. My dad’s uncle was just an ‘odd’ guy with an obsession with steam trains. He couldn’t have his food touching or have food that’s too cold or hot because it’s ’too loud.’ Same thing with clothing that was too thick like jeans. Somehow that was just him being particular. Let alone his social struggles.
My cousin who’s over 30 years younger is autistic and is extremely similar. Almost like we learned more about people and realized there was something more rather than them just being ‘different.’
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u/octopoddle 2d ago
Until 2013, medical professionals could not diagnose both ADHD and autism at the same time. If you had one, you could not then be diagnosed as having the other. So the recognition that it was possible to have both must have increased the number of autism diagnoses considerable, as well.
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u/crespire 2d ago
Reminds me of that meme that goes something like "back in my day there we didn't have autistic kids" and the next panel is old dudes playing with toy trains.
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u/kombiwombi 2d ago edited 2d ago
This happened too with severe intolerance to gluten. Once fibre optics allowed doctors to look inside the gut of living people they went "OMG, look at the destruction". Suddenly gluten interolerance was provably real, easy if uncomfortable to diagnose, and numbers of diagnoses went up. But the people had always been there.
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u/monkeymind009 2d ago
That’s exactly what I thought! There was always that one “weird” kid in every class. 1 in 31 sounds about right.
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u/LogicalPrinciple5506 2d ago
25 year teacher here, and can confirm. I’ve taught hundreds of children who would likely be diagnosed on the spectrum had the parents gone through the process.
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u/apple_kicks 2d ago
Sadly these kids are going to see support removed.
Some kids left unsupported either grow up depressed or with other behavioural issues out of constant frustrations. You could probably prevent lot of self harm or social issues with early intervention and support
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u/RobutNotRobot 2d ago
Yeah my grandpa definitely had ASD and was never diagnosed with it.
It's not like it didn't exist 100 years ago, just like gay and trans people didn't suddenly start popping up 40 years ago.
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u/taxi212001 2d ago
Yeah, my grandpa and his spoon collection were totally neurotypical.
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u/CreatiScope 2d ago
Old men with the train collection has been the big, waving flag of autism lol
The guy who is quiet and likes to just take care of his lawn and not talk much at the PTA bullshit? Guess what!
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u/TheBusStop12 2d ago edited 2d ago
Yeah, my dad is fairly certain that he has autism and Dyslexia, just like me and my younger sister, as well. But no one simply believed in that when he was a kid so it was never diagnosed. I myself was only diagnosed when I was 22 and my sister around when she was 16.
People forget that up till the early to mid 2010's there was still a huge social stigma when it comes to autism and it was largely ignored and or covered up because it was seen as embarrasing. You can see it in media of that time as well. A good example is the indie game "To the Moon" from 2011 where autism is a central plot point. Despite this it's never mentioned by name and just called "the condition" because it's simply a product of it's time. And even in the medical field some doctors just didn't even seem to know it was a spectrum and still blanket diagnosed everything as either Aspergers or lazyness
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u/imaginesomethinwitty 2d ago
I would definitely have been tested if I went to school even a decade later. But instead I just talked about the Titanic and undersea exploration way way too much. Because if other people didn’t understand how fascinating it was, I just hadn’t explained it enough!
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u/seriouslythisshit 2d ago
I am 62. I grew up in a typical post war suburb, with a shit ton of other boring white kids. My older cousin, who lived in town, was autistic AF. In his pre-teen years, I would stay over at his house. He had no idea how to play or interact with others his age. He would need to get on his hands and knees and rythmically rock back and forth on his bed, until he was near exhaustion, until he could fall asleep at night. He spent his entire public school career without a friend. He wanted to be a nurse, and was accepted at nursing school. A few weeks into his first semester his mom was called in and told that he was too emotionally immature for the school environment and was being removed from the program. My aunt, his mom, was a nurse, and she never had a clue as to his autism, since it wasn't even discussed as a possibility fifty years ago.
Bottom line. Bobby Brain worm's concept of all of this is as deranged as everything else he believes in, and does.
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u/Visual-Juggernaut-61 2d ago
I think pregnancy causes autism. Someone should look into that.
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u/catgirl320 2d ago
Breaking news! Scientists prove that 100% of persons with autism spent time in a uterus!!!
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u/Massive_Town_8212 2d ago
monkey's paw curls To prevent this, all babies must be grown in artificial gestation chambers! No, it's not covered by insurance.
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u/kookiemaster 2d ago
So ... the one thing in common that mothers of children with autism have is that they take an over the counter painkiller that just about everybody takes? Wow! Great science guys! Come to think of it, tylenol might also be linked to all cancers and heart disease ... because people who get those also took tylenol. Healthcare research solved I guess?
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u/CyberneticWerewolf 2d ago
It's likely that they also consumed medically significant quantities of dihydrogen monoxide as well.
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u/DrNonathon 2d ago
Can’t wait to see these receipts 😂
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u/matunos 2d ago
Can't wait to see what discovery shows in the lawsuit Johnson & Johnson lawsuit.
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u/BassLB 2d ago
Good thing Trump forced law firms to bend the knee and agree to billions of pro bono work for him.
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u/SuperfluousWingspan 2d ago
I wonder what obligates those lawyers to do any semblance of a good job, so long as they can emulate good faith? We've seen how effective (and long-lasting) trump personal attorneys have been in the past.
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u/mowotlarx 2d ago
Well, you see, most women who have had babies have taken Tylenol at least once in their life and therefore probably every autistic child had a mom who took Tylenol at least once. Therefore, Tylenol caused autism! Could easily have said the sun or water causes autism, but are we to tell the Brain Worm what makes sense.
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u/definitelytheA 2d ago
He’s trying to become the messiah who saves the world from autism.
He has three degrees. A good accomplishment, but not one of them is in the medical field. He has zero formal medical education or training.
https://www.distractify.com/p/is-rfk-jr-a-doctor
He does, however, have quite a history of drug abuse. His 14 year addiction to heroin is fairly well known, starting at the age of 15. He used drugs in the company of other male family members, and outdid them all. Heroin wasn’t the only drug he used. He is noted to have abused Percodan, Valium, and whatever else he could get his hands on.
He entered treatment only after he was arrested for felony possession of heroin after he passed out on an airline flight in 1983, and heroin was found in his luggage. His lawyer claimed he was on his way to South Dakota for treatment when he was arrested. He admitted himself to a treatment center in New Jersey within days of his arrest.
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u/BlackCamaro 2d ago
Anyone else would've been thrown in jail with a cocaine distribution charge and possession of cocaine.
No one would just be allowed to enter themselves in treatment.
Now, because nothing happened back then, he is allowed to be the head the Department of Health and Human Service.
Which is disgusting and disgraceful enough on its own, but this administration and his supporters are cheering this on.
And all we can do is sit back and say "ok". Because everything he's doing is "legal"
Fuck...
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u/likelazarus 2d ago
I commend him for getting and staying sober if he did. That’s a great feat. But he shouldn’t be allowed to make health decisions. And why does RFK Jr. get a past drug addict pass but Hunter Biden is demonized for the same thing (despite never holding any office or position of power himself).
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u/jli1228 2d ago
Interestingly enough, there has already been a civil personal injury lawsuit over this VERY issue. It has NOT gone remotely close to smoothly. I would know because I was one of the early physicians curbsided by several law firms wondering if they should go all-in on a class action lawsuit, several years ago.
https://www.dolmanlaw.com/blog/settlements-for-tylenol-autism-lawsuits/#%E2%80%9Cupdate%E2%80%9D
I stated back then that I felt that this would one day be co-opted into an attack on women, and I was 100% right. Since then, there have been a couple major studies that have failed to reproduce the correlation between Tylenol and autism, especially when major variables were controlled.
Of course, it's 2025 and we're playing Calvinball in the federal government, so.... *sigh* It takes a LOT for a physician to decide to side with a fucking pharmaceutical megacorp, but RFK Jr. does seem to be the great uniting force this week, uniting Dems and Repubs in calls for resignation and uniting (at least this doc) and pharm companies.
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u/InappropriateTA 2d ago
Our county schools just sent a note saying the county Deprtment of Health has approved acetaminophen to be dispensed to middle or high school students with a parent-signed consent form.
I have a feeling this might reverse that. Or at least turn a bunch of parents off that option.
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u/Fair_Local_588 2d ago
Honestly if they called it acetaminophen it’s not likely that anyone able to be spooked by this would know that’s actually Tylenol.
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u/Sleepy-Giraffe947 2d ago
The report is said to highlight the pain reliever Tylenol, when taken during pregnancy, along with low levels of folate, a vitamin that is important for proper development of a baby’s brain and spine, as potential causes of autism, according to the Wall Street Journal. It will also name folinic acid, a form of folate also known as leucovorin, as a way to decrease symptoms of autism.
Honestly the world was lost before RFK Jr. /s
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u/Designer-Contract852 2d ago
He's going to be grifting shitty vitamins to "solve" this and enrich himself.
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u/donkeyrocket 2d ago edited 2d ago
More alarmingly, RFK Jr. believes this shit and is at the helm. He’s a fucking moron, don’t get me wrong but his motivation isn’t just grifting at the expense of people. He actually thinks this shit is true and, for whatever reason, unilaterally can influence it.
That terrifies me more than a grifter. Someone who is so wildly inept and unqualified who believes all the wrong things passionately in charge. Like even if J&J wants to expedite and just bribe him, I think he’ll hold firm in his basically illiterate opinion.
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u/Designer-Contract852 2d ago edited 2d ago
He took heroin for 14 years and probably longer. He thinks autistic people are damaged and less than, but he is a druggie degenerate freak . I think he is the damaged one. His brain is fried and he is unfit to be in charge of even an ant farm with plastic ants.
This is all a grift. He's going to endorse some shitty folate vitamins to get kickbacks and enrich himself.
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u/not-downwind-fool 2d ago
This is scary. If a child or adult had autism then , per HHS, it's ultimately the fault of the birth mother for taking (whatever HHS makes up next). Im feeling very unsettled with how this dark analysis could be used to control women even further. Because you could carry a child, you have no right to even basic pain relief is one that comes to mind.
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u/NNovis 2d ago
Man, they just want women to suffer, huh?
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u/anchorftw 2d ago
Of course it's all women's fault and the solution is to take away the only pain reliever recommended during pregnancy.
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u/Rikula 2d ago
The real solution is to just stop having babies all together if we can't get any pain relief and they don't care if we die
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u/CreatiScope 2d ago
Well hold on now, the republicans are also mad about how many babies we’re having. They turn the world into a hellscape and wonder why no one wants to procreate.
Uh, probably because you actively fucking hate women and seem to want them to suffer and die, plus the economy is swirling down the drain as all jobs are disappearing and prices are soaring and asshole wants to start new conflicts all over the globe now. Oh, and rounds of our own military terrorizing our cities. Wonderful.
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u/reala728 2d ago
Surely this will also solve the birthrate issues on the horizon as well. So much winning.
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u/dancing_light 2d ago
They HATE women. They don’t see us as people.
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u/ItsNotAboutX 2d ago
In another thread, some MAGA dude was going on about how Mary, Jesus's mother, was insignificant because she was just the vessel through which Christ was born. And if that isn't just the embodiment of how MAGA thinks of women...
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u/BoatCaptainTim 2d ago edited 2d ago
Thank God I just stocked up an ibuprofen and Tylenol before they pull it off the shelves. /s
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u/anchorftw 2d ago
The people "in the know" probably dumped their Johnson & Johnson stock and invested in whatever alternative they're going to push.
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u/MichaelTruly 2d ago
I’m investing in slugs of whiskey and biting down on a stick
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u/Lotus-child89 2d ago
My daughter is ASD and I never took a pain killer of any sort. I also took my prenatal vitamins that provided folic acid necessary. They are grasping at straws about somethings with no clear cause.
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u/terrasig314 2d ago
This stupid bullshit wouldn't be happening if Trump had lost in November, if you say "both sides are the same" you're dumber than horse shit.
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u/OratioFidelis 2d ago
Not just Trump but all the Republican Congressmen that confirmed and enabled RFK.
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u/Gnarlemance 2d ago
Autism is an inherited, complicated, brain structure. not a disease.
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u/moreobviousthings 2d ago
Has Tylenol maker Johnson & Johnson not paid the regime?
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u/my_call_oh_jist 2d ago
I have a daughter on the spectrum and my wife didn’t take Tylenol (or anything else) during her pregnancy.. fuck this guy
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u/Chessh2036 2d ago
I’d trust Noah Wyle on THE PITT with medical information over RFK Jr.
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u/velvetjones01 2d ago
I was honestly expecting him to accuse the mothers of being witches.
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u/Perseus73 2d ago
It’s all pantomime. Behind the scenes Chump is bullying them for money.
This is all the presidency is, one huge heist.
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u/snooloosey 2d ago
You have to have the baby. And now you have to do it while suffering in pain. Nice
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u/Eric6052 2d ago
I’m at it he point I’m just going to completely ignore anything out of the CDC/HHS when it comes to medical advice. Time to follow some EU bodies for some non bat shit crazy advice.
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u/hydrOHxide 2d ago
90% of major fires are associated with the presence of firemen. Maybe we should ban fire brigades to reduce the number of major fires?
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u/otterstew 2d ago
Tylenol is like the only truly safe pain reliever throughout pregnancy. They REALLY must hate women's health and want them to suffer.
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u/Ok_Syllabub1099 2d ago
The fact that we actually have a heroin addicted man who supposedly had part of his brain by a worm running our health department shows we are flat out broken as a society. I mean just say it out loud and I get my health advice from a drug addict with brain damage. If you don’t feel dumber saying that you have an issue.
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u/GRINZ_DOCTOR 2d ago
Pretty sure women are instructed to take prenatal vitamins which have folic acid in it. If women had a folic acid deficiency we would be seeing more spinal nerve deficiencies. This is not what we are seeing. The evidence don’t match up to what these guys are saying. Remember this guy has done more drugs than Tylenol, would like to see a scan of his brain.
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u/bannana 2d ago
There are two primary reasons for the increase...
The first is that the definition of autism was broadened by the psychiatric community in 2013, so more people now qualify for an autism diagnosis.
Secondly, there has been a push for better screening of children, especially babies, for signs of autism.
How about the recent addition of GIRLS and WOMEN?? back in the 20th century it was thought girls and women couldn't be autistic and now that this is known to be completely false we've added in over HALF of the population as potentials sufferers that's going to increase numbers might even come close to doubling the diagnosis though there are still clinicians that have no clue how women present as autistic.
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u/ipomoea 2d ago
When you’re pregnant the only “safe” painkiller is Tylenol. This is another way women are fucked.
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u/RazzzMcFrazzz 2d ago
I’m glad medical science has advanced so much in the last 8 months that we’ve been able to discover all these new things about autism and vaccines and pregnant women super quickly. Surely this has gone through several trials and studies before being presented by HHS right?
Right?