Mr. Paxton filed the suit against Johnson & Johnson, which sold Tylenol for decades, and Kenvue, a spinoff company that has sold the drug since 2023.
The Texas lawsuit claims that the companies knowingly withheld evidence from consumers about Tylenol’s links to autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The suit also claims that Kenvue was created to shield Johnson & Johnson from liability over Tylenol.
This lawsuit is the first by a state that seizes on Mr. Trump’s allegations that the use of acetaminophen products like Tylenol during pregnancy could cause neurodevelopmental disorders. The issue has been a longstanding concern among some followers of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation’s top health official, but the idea gained traction with Mr. Trump’s remarks.
We have seen a massive uptick. That’s the whole problem. In 1970 the rate was 1:10,000 and now it’s 1:30
But the reason for the massive uptick is because we understand autism better and can diagnose it easier. But idiots don’t understand that and assume something must be making more autistic kids than before.
Paracetamol also causes left handed-ness
And global warming.
It turned me into a newt!
A newt?
I got better.
Burn her!
Correct. So many people are only being diagnosed as adults with autism now precisely because they were never diagnosed as children because we didn’t even really have it defined at that time and didn’t understand the full scope of the condition. It’s not that they “became” autistic, it’s that our definition and understanding of it evolved to include them retrospectively. Tylenol did not cause this. Understanding did.
Not to mention, we have tons of documentation of people behaving and expressing in ways that would now be diagnosed as ASD, prior to ASD existing as a diagnosis
andacetaminophen. Explain that.ASD = Acetaminophen Scary Disorder
Acetaminophen could still be a cause, even if autism existed before it was used.
There’s no evidence that’s true, though.
Which creates the question. If the spectrum of autism is so wide and common does that mean autism is not a disorder or condition but just one of the many common traits of humans but some people (much like athleticism) have a stronger ability?
Just like blindness, cancer and obesity are among the many common traits of humans.
The fact that something naturally occurs doesn’t mean it’s not pathological.
I’m not implying autism is necessarily a pathology, only that the reasoning is unsound that concludes that it’s not because it naturally occurs.
I guess that would depend on whether or not it is an evolutionary advantage. I can see it, in some niches, and especially in pre-industrial era. I think the same is true of ADHD.
I get that that sounds crass or even eugenecistic (?), but that’s, kinda, how it is. Traits that are considered advantageous are gifts; traits that are considered disadvantageous are considered disorders.
The same could be said of athleticism, if there’s some generic mutation that i.e. makes muscle mass develop rapidly, I could easily see that as being a marker for heart disease or various types of cancer, making hyperathleticism a disorder.
But I guess you could say that that’s also on a spectrum.
Kinda reminds me how in ancients Scandinavian some people with mental illness were either seer’s or seen as gifted by the gods. Nowadays we call it schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.
Yeah. People with ADHD, Autism, etc…we get special powers. The problem is, we aren’t built for this world. It’s too damn busy and overstimulating. I just want to live in a cave and pick berries. I bet I’d be good at that.
Preaching to the choir on that one, got diagnosis with autism when I was like 3. But yeah throw me on the woods and once I get past the initial discomfort I’d probably do alright.
Don’t discount the internet coming into existence and more and more social isolation in developed nations.
So autism is just a human condition and the spectrum includes ALL people?
In the same way that degree of religiosity is a spectrum and I, as an atheist, am included at the zero end of the distribution.
No, it’s just more common than previously thought. It’s still a developmental disorder where the brain didn’t form normally.
“Developmental Disorder” refers to a child’s development after birth, not before. ASD is a developmental disorder yes, but afaik there’s no evidence it is caused by a prenatal issue, ex. the brain not “forming normally”.
Neurotypically, there is no “normal”, there’s only “does it cause issues”. My understanding is that, so far, it just seems like some human brains have ASD, and the spectrum is a measure of how much it causes them issues (more specifically, is a measure of how much assistance they need to function). But there’s nothing “abnormal” about having ASD any more than it’s “abnormal” to be born tone deaf.
No, autism is a Developmental disorder.
And it’s pretty well known that there are differences in how the brain forms in autistic people.
Please re-read. I said ASD is Developmental Disorder. My correction was that you are misusing the term Developmental Disorder to mean Prenatal Development. Your second link agrees with my correction.I think this is my bad. You said “the brain didn’t form normally” and I interpreted that to mean prenatal. But you are referring to during youth, which the paper is about. TIL, thanks 👍
But I will still say, “abnormal” doesn’t mean “bad” here, which the right seem to be conflating in all their rhetoric. As I understand it, ASD is just an evolutionary mutation. The extent to which it helps/hinders each person is up to their environment. And the right, by saying ASD is abnormal and therefore bad, are creating a hindering environment.
I mean, it’s literally a disability. I’m not disparaging those with ASD, my wife has it and I’m a bit on it (mostly ADHD). But I definitely won’t pretend that it doesn’t make life more challenging by default.
It’s possible to have both autism and ADHD, but that doesn’t mean ADHD is a form of autism.
I never said ADHD was autism