Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is planning to release a report linking autism spectrum disorder to maternal use of acetaminophen (Tylenol) during pregnancy and also potentially to cerebral folate deficiency. Over the years, Kennedy has tied autism to many things, most notably vaccines. But this forthcoming report has the potential to do even more damage to the public health apparatus.

Medication use during pregnancy is a difficult topic to study because pregnant women are usually not included in clinical trials, which means that there is often a paucity of data when it comes to medication use in pregnancy. Also, pregnant women are on average younger and healthier than the population at large and often don’t need regular medication. But they do, of course, occasionally get sick. They develop fevers or headaches and do require some guidance on how to treat these problems.

Many people tend to think that taking no medication is the safest option. But leaving medical problems untreated is not consequence-free. High fever is linked to

© Montreal Gazette