El Paso Health Officials say there is no direct relationship between Tylenol and autism
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- Health officials are pushing back following yesterday's announcement from the White House that they are advising against using Tylenol for pregnant women.
The White House says that there's an increased risk of autism in pregnant women who take acetaminophen, better known by it's brand name Tylenol. Local officials here in El Paso say that isn't the case.
"There is no relationship between autism and vaccines or Tylenol," said Dr. Hector Ocaranza, the health authority for the city and county of El Paso. He says that there are some studies that show a correlation, but there's not enough to support causality.
"Autism is a very complex condition, and we're still studying because we haven't figured out exactly or pinpointed what are the causes of autism," said Dr. Ocaranza. "But we have strong evidence that it has some genetic component. That genetic component is being brought up by long research that has been done properly."
The White House said there's been a spike in autism over the last few decades. According to the CDC, 1 in every 31 kids have autism found before the age of 8. Dr. Ocaranza says this could be due to increased autism rates overall, but it is likely due to increased screening.
"Physicians are the ones that are best trained to translate all the science into what the patients need to know or what the patient's condition is and how we're going to be tackling those conditions," said Dr. Ocaranza.
ABC-7 also spoke with the Texas Society of Autism, who says that this announcement could lead to adverse affects in the autism community.
"We have a history within the autism community of blaming the mother in these situations. It can again go back to blaming the mother. Moms can now be thinking, 'did I do these things to hurt my child?'" said Adriana Crostley, the Deputy Director for the Society.
"I don't think that's the solution. Autism is a complex disability that has different factors from environmental, biological factors and genetic factors," said Crostley.
President Trump also announced grants to fund more research for autism, mostly to find the root causes. Crostley said there is a need for more research and will welcome it, but it has to be done in the right way.
"Research is always beneficial. But we ask for the research to be rigorous, to be responsible, to be research studies that can be replicated at a bigger scale," she said. "Autism is not a disease and it's not something that we can find one specific cure. One thing that we want to encourage is for this research to bring dignity to people, use respectful language, and also to make sure that autistic individuals, advocates, families are included."
