Selecting Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services was one of President Trump’s best picks for his Cabinet.
A breaking report has revealed that RFK Jr. will announce later this month that the popular pain-relief medication Tylenol causes autism.
Following the news of the expected announcement from RFK Jr., shares of Kenvue, the company that manufactures Tylenol, dropped significantly.
CNBC reported more details on Kennedy’s upcoming announcement:
Shares of Kenvue fell more than 10% on Friday after a report that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will likely link autism to the use of the company’s pain medication Tylenol in pregnant women.
HHS will release the report that could draw that link this month, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
That report will also suggest a medicine derived from folate – a water-soluble vitamin – can be used to treat symptoms of the developmental disorder in some people, according to the Journal.
Tylenol could be the latest widely used and accepted treatment that Kennedy has undermined at the helm of HHS, which oversees federal health agencies that regulate drugs and other therapies. Kennedy has also taken steps to change vaccine policy in the U.S., and has amplified false claims about safe and effective shots that use mRNA technology.
Kennedy has made the disorder a key focus of HHS, pledging in April that the agency will “know what has caused the autism epidemic” by September and eliminate exposures. He also said that month that the agency has launched a “massive testing and research effort” involving hundreds of scientists worldwide that will determine the cause.
In a statement, Kenvue said it has “continuously evaluated the science and [continues] to believe there is no causal link” between the use of acetaminophen, the generic name for Tylenol, during pregnancy and autism.
Kennedy will more than likely reference Harvard’s recent study that revealed pregnant women who take Tylenol have a higher chance of their children having autism.
New Harvard research shows at least an 80% spike in autism risk when Tylenol is used during pregnancy.
Acetaminophen (Tylenol) and paracetamol (Panadol) are the same medication.
The risk of autism is even higher when given to infants pic.twitter.com/sDnKxNoL7R
— Stay Hidden (@Stay_Hidden0) September 4, 2025
Read Harvard’s report below:
When children are exposed to acetaminophen—also known by the brand name Tylenol or as paracetamol—during pregnancy, they may be more likely to develop neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) including autism and ADHD, according to a new study.
ADVERTISEMENTThe study was published August 14 in BMC Environmental Health. Andrea Baccarelli, dean of the faculty at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and professor of environmental health, was senior author. The study was led by the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and also included co-authors from other institutions.
The researchers analyzed results from 46 previous studies—representing data from over 100,000 participants—that investigated the potential link between prenatal acetaminophen use and subsequent NDDs in children. The researchers used the Navigation Guide Systematic Review methodology—a gold-standard framework for synthesizing and evaluating environmental health data—which enabled them to conduct a rigorous, comprehensive analysis that supported evidence of an association between acetaminophen exposure during pregnancy and increased incidence of NDDs.
The researchers noted that while steps should be taken to limit acetaminophen use, the drug is important for treating maternal fever and pain, which can also harm children. “We recommend judicious acetaminophen use—lowest effective dose, shortest duration—under medical guidance, tailored to individual risk-benefit assessments, rather than a broad limitation,” they wrote.
Baccarelli noted in the “competing interests” section of the paper that he has served as an expert witness for a plaintiff in a case involving potential links between acetominophen use during pregnancy and neurodevelopmental disorders.
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