The EUCAP Board and activists have observed with great concern how the US administration has abandoned all reason in its approach to autism. We wish to express our solidarity with the many autistic people in the US and elsewhere who will suffer as a result of the ongoing propagation of misinformation.
The suggestion that acetaminophen (paracetamol) could cause adverse effects in fetal development is not new. The topic has been studied and debated for over a decade, with observations from animal studies and suggested mechanisms that involve disruption of hormone function and increase in oxidative stress. The evidence has been examined repeatedly by medical authorities. Both the US Federal Drugs Administration and the European Medicines Agency have advised that acetaminophen should be used with caution during pregnancy, weighing the risk of potential adverse effects from the drug against the risks caused by pain and fever.
The studies mentioned by the Trump administration as new evidence do not change the previous recommendations, nor do they support the idea that acetaminophen use has contributed significantly to the increase in autism diagnoses. In his speech (1), President Trump has misrepresented their content. For example, the 2025 article by Prada et al. (2) encourages continued cautious use of acetaminophen and reminds that untreated maternal fever and pain pose risks such as neural tube defects and preterm birth. The authors conclude:
“We recommend judicious acetaminophen use—lowest effective dose, shortest duration—under medical guidance, tailored to individual risk–benefit assessments, rather than a broad limitation.”
(Prada et al. 2025)
A 2024 article based on a large Swedish cohort (3) explored this topic while considering the possibility that an autistic mother could be more likely than average to use pain medication due to co-occurring health issues, as well as being more likely to have an autistic child. After taking this into account as a confounding factor, no association was seen between maternal acetaminophen use and children’s autism diagnoses. This study was criticized by Prada et al., claiming that the mothers’ acetaminophen use was only measured by a single interview. However, the women were actually interviewed multiple times throughout pregnancy, and the study also included participants whose prescription records were available. Based on the records, different levels of acetaminophen use were compared, and no correlation was found between these levels and the number of autism diagnoses.
The conclusions of the Swedish study are supported by previous studies that showed autistic and neurodivergent women being prone to pain and migraines during pregnancy, providing an explanation for observed associations between acetaminophen use and autism in children without requiring a causal link (4,5).
The Trump administration is also promoting the use of leucovorin (folinic acid) as a treatment for autism. The studies supporting its use are insufficient, and there is evidence of some adverse effects. Leucovorin is likely to benefit only a subset of autistic children with specific types of health issues. Changes in behavior are likely to happen as a result of co-occurring health issues being alleviated, for those who do benefit from this medication, not because of any actual effects on core characteristics of autism. Leucovorin should be used selectively and with caution, targeting only those who can be shown to have the exact issues it can remediate. Encouraging widespread use of leucovorin on autistic children is misleading, irresponsible, and likely to cause harm.
Through its new Autism Data Science Initiative, the US administration has granted $50 million to autism research. The greatest concern is not whether President Trump will ever understand the science, but how this funding will be used. The 13 projects that have received funding include nine that focus on causes and etiology, one that builds a general basis for further autism research, and three that focus on clinical services and interventions (6,7). Topics prioritized by autistic adults seem to be almost completely absent. The involvement of autistic adults appears minimal even in the one project that closely concerns them. Two advisory committees are mentioned where a small number of autistic people could participate along with representatives of other interest groups. In our experience, this kind of participation is almost inevitably tokenistic. We hope that our autistic colleagues in US-based autistic-led organisations will nevertheless find ways to influence the directions of this research.
EUCAP is an umbrella organisation representing 27 European organisations led by autistic people. We reject the interpretation of autism as pathology, whether this is considered to be the result of genetic or environmental factors or combinations of both. We consider autism to be a positive part of the variety of the human species, a complex phenomenon involving both strengths and challenges, with many of us experiencing some level of disability. We support autism research that considers autism in societal contexts, reduces stigma and discrimination, improves disability services, prevents human rights abuses, recognizes us as a minority with a culture, and develops interventions that are based on the lived experience and values expressed by autistic communities. We also support clinical research that targets health issues that often co-occur with autism, and improves access to the health care services that autistic people need. We oppose behavioral and biomedical interventions that aim to make us superficially indistinguishable from non-autistic people, ignoring our personal perceptions and preferences.
- Remarks: Donald Trump Makes an Autism Announcement at the White House – September 22, 2025 (full transcript). https://rollcall.com/factbase/trump/transcript/donald-trump-remarks-health-autism-white-house-september-22-2025/
- Prada, D., Ritz, B., Bauer, A.Z. et al. Evaluation of the evidence on acetaminophen use and neurodevelopmental disorders using the Navigation Guide methodology. Environ Health 24, 56 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12940-025-01208-0
- Ahlqvist VH, Sjöqvist H, Dalman C, et al. Acetaminophen Use During Pregnancy and Children’s Risk of Autism, ADHD, and Intellectual Disability. JAMA. 2024;331(14):1205–1214. doi:https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2024.3172
- Yamada K, Kimura T, Cui M, et al. Maternal autistic traits and antenatal pain by cross-sectional analysis of the Japan Environment and Children’s Study. Sci Rep. 2023;13(1):6068. doi:10.1038/s41598-023-32945-2
- Havdahl A, Wootton RE, Leppert B, et al. Associations between pregnancy-related predisposing factors for offspring neurodevelopmental conditions and parental genetic liability to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism, and schizophrenia: the Norwegian mother, father and child cohort study (MoBa). JAMA Psychiatry. 2022;79(8):799-810. doi:https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2022.1728
- NIH (2025): NIH launches $50M Autism Data Science Initiative to unlock causes and improve outcomes. https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-launches-fifty-million-autism-data-science-initiative-unlock-causes-improve-outcomes
- NIH (2025): Autism Data Science Initiative Funded Research – Funded Projects https://dpcpsi.nih.gov/autism-data-science-initiative/funded-research#table13
