President of the Bahamas Pharmaceutical Association, Dr. Marvin Smith dismissed claims made earlier this week by US President, Donald Trump that Acetaminophen known as Tylenol was a cause of autism.
Dr. Smith told ZNS News causation and correlation are two different things. He took issue with the study used by the Trump administration to bolster their conclusion. He said, “that study came off of another study that was done with about 150 kids, small study. But what they realized is that if you use Tylenol for more than four consecutive weeks they thought that that would be a risk factor. Well here’s the thing, Tylenol is not made to be used for four consecutive weeks.”
Dr. Smith said more studies are needed and urged pregnant women to consult their physicians before they stop taking Tylenol. “In pregnancy treating fever is critical. You do not want to be a febrile, that’s what we call a febrile pregnant patient, that directly impacts the fetus within the womb. So you want to be sure that anytime you get a fever, yes you want to treat that. It’s not something you want to carry on for a couple of days.”
Fidelity Bank Chief Executive Officer, Gowon Bowe is the parent of an autistic child. He opined that the Trump administration’s announcement is disingenuous and very dangerous. He also said that medical professionals have dismissed the claims.
The Federal Drug Administration has said that studies hint at a relationship but relationship has not been established.
