Curiouser and curiouser

In his quest to find an environmental “cause” for autism, RFK Jr has honed in on acetaminophen. Initially, it was gestational exposure. Now it’s acetaminophen exposure in newborn boys who were circumcised:

“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 circumcised were 46% more likely to develop autism spectrum disorder (ASD) before age 10, and the risk was particularly elevated for infantile autism diagnosed before age 5, where a twofold risk was observed.

 

“But the study authors acknowledged numerous weaknesses, most notably that it had no data on whether acetaminophen was actually administered during circumcisions. The investigators acknowledged that while their evidence was "compatible with a possible causal role of circumcision trauma in some cases of ASD," they cautioned that "no firm conclusions should be drawn at this point" and called for confirmatory studies.

 

“Kennedy also may have been referencing an ecological study from 2013 published in BMC Environmental Health that used circumcision rates as a proxy for early neonatal exposure to acetaminophen.

 

“It found a correlation between country-level circumcision rates and the prevalence of autism and ASD for boys born after 1995. The correlation was weaker and the effect size was only one-sixth as large for boys born before 1995 when the drug wasn't routinely used for circumcision.

 

“Both studies contained significant limitations and strong warnings about correlation not implying causation.”

Now the man is on a roll. As long as you’re unmoored from reality, you can say anything you want, right? Just like his boss.

“Kennedy made other wild claims about autism and acetaminophen during the Cabinet meeting, including that Cuba has the lowest rate of acetaminophen use in the world, and also the lowest autism rates.


“He also relayed a story about a "Columbia professor" who "was saying F Trump and gobbling Tylenol with her baby in her placenta" -- which is not where fetuses are located.”

<a href="https://www.medpagetoday.com/washington-watch/washington-watch/117885?xid=nl_popmed_2025-10-10&mh=eb71348a5ff6ae370cc6759bc5dc3300&zdee=gAAAAABm4u1YoCP4y5SBTJUyUyqo9KxZhft26L1xeGdP0BzzQQN1Pb_ifR6vFqhFh-3U6Q_nU7DbA-EawzzXKxSRhMOwjrOGuOKbf7OE641eN0HfnK6eObE%3D&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=PopMedicine_101025&utm_term=NL_Gen_Int_PopMedicine_Active" >RFK Jr blames circumcisions for autism</a>

 

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