Texas

A month later, Reuters reported on more recent comments from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.:

Donald Trump’s top health official on Wednesday said evidence does not show that Kenvue’s pain medicine Tylenol definitively causes autism but that it should still be used cautiously, a month after the president said U.S. health officials would recommend limiting its use. ‘The causative association ... between Tylenol given in pregnancy and the perinatal periods is not sufficient to say it definitely cause autism. But it is very suggestive,’ Kennedy told reporters, citing animal, blood and observational studies.

It’s hard not to wonder whether Trump took note of the comments.

Indeed, the president has been quite animated about acetaminophen lately. In the aftermath of his ridiculous White House event in mid-September, Trump continued to push hysterical rhetoric about Tylenol, online and on camera, claiming that he’s “studied this a long time.” (He has no background in science or medicine and has a track record of promoting unscientific nonsense.).....

Around the same time, Ken Paxton, Texas’ scandal-plagued attorney general, followed the White House’s cues and sued the current and former makers of Tylenol, echoing debunked Trump claims related to autism.

One day after the Texas Republican’s case was filed, Kennedy (who was cited repeatedly in Paxton’s court filing) conceded that there’s “not sufficient” evidence to prove a connection between Tylenol and vaccines.

Whether he realizes this or not, the Cabinet secretary has created overlapping messes. On the one hand, Kennedy made a public concession that cut off his allies at the knees. On the other, the longtime conspiracy theorist nevertheless claimed there’s a “suggestive” link between the painkiller and autism, which isn’t supported by the science.

The result is a dynamic in which the American mainstream will continue to struggle when it comes to trusting federal public health officials.