Why GP and Chair of General Practice NZ, Bryan Betty says Trumps paracetamol claims are false.
Video / NZ Herald
A prominent GP specialist says the Trump administration’s unfounded link between paracetamol and autism risks putting pregnant women and their unborn children at risk and plunges us back into 19th century.
“It verges on outrageous what’s actually happened here,” said General Practice chair Dr Bryan Betty.
He toldHerald NOW he and his colleagues are angry to see mainstream science denialism re-emerging, arguing there is insufficient evidence to support the Trump administration’s claims.
“Every credible medical body across the world has come out and said there is no foundation to this claim.”
Calling rising autism numbers a “horrible, horrible crisis”, Trump said pregnant women should not be taking the painkiller, citing the unproven link as a major factor in the rise of autism diagnoses.
Dr Bryan Betty, chair of General Practice NZ, said the Trump administration's assertion of a link between paracetamol and autism is unfounded. Photo / Supplied
The US president also alleged a link between vaccines and autism, and falsely claimed babies are “loaded up” with up to 80 different vaccines in accordance with medical advice.
Asked why Trump would ignore peer-reviewed research and the evidence at hand to reach this conclusion, Betty said it was a “complex question”.
He noted that amid the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, Trump also claimed that injecting bleach would cure people from the virus.
There was good reason why pregnant women take paracetamol too.
Betty said that “fever during pregnancy is potentially dangerous, especially during the first trimester”, citing the increased risk of congenital defects, brain development issues and miscarrying.
“Fever on its own, regardless of the cause, can cause harm to both the baby and to the mum. So it does need to be treated.
US President Donald Trump has suggested a link between paracetamol use during pregnancy and increased autism risk. Photo / AFP
“Paracetamol is the safest medication we have to do that.
“The alternatives such as [ibuprofen] or aspirin are known to be problematic and actually have been associated with potential harm in pregnancy in studies and are not recommended.”
Betty said he and many of his colleagues were both angry and distressed that political leaders were trying to undermine established science with their unsubstantiated claims, arguing it has the potential to create real harm.
“This takes us back to the 19th century and ... the selling of snake oil that was not based on any evidence whatsoever,” he said.
“We’ve fallen into this space where it’s almost science denying that’s going on, when we should be making decisions based on the best scientific evidence we have.”
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