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possible cause of autism?

Iain

I read with interest a new article on the connection with some painkillers used by pregnant women and having neurodiverse children:

https://www.technologynetworks.com/genomics/news/prenatal-painkiller-use-associated-with-autism-adhd-in-children-403513

The study links prenatal paracetamol (or Tylenol for US readers) use to increased autism and ADHD risk.

It does emphasise that this is a very early stage connection and may only be contributory so it is wise not to jump to conclusions.

The actual study is here for those of you with an analytical interest:
https://ehjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12940-025-01208-0

The methodology seems sound and it is designed for peer review which would indicate it is a solid piece of research.

An interesting thought experiment arising from this could be:

If you knew taking this painkiller could increase the risk of your child being neurodiverse, would you still take it (assuming no other health risks were present to mother or child)?

Parents

  • Please don't spread these rumours. You don't know how incredibly harmful this sort of misinformation can be. 

  • in reply to VLD
    VLD said:
    Please don't spread these rumours

    That is a bit harsh. It is an article published in a respected medical journal for peer review and seems to follow all due scientific process.

    As the discussion below points out the compound in question has only been about for bout 50 years so it cannot be the root cause, but if it is a contributing factor then it is absolutely worth researching.

    VLD said:
    You don't know how incredibly harmful this sort of misinformation can be.

    Can you back up this claim that it is misinformation?

    I'm not seeing any of the hallmarks of it in the article.

    For full disclosure I am not a medical professional or active researcher in this field. Can you disclose your credentials for your response please?

  • in reply to Iain

    I'm not saying this is misinformation. But I'd always be wary of one paper that suggests something like this. The original paper (that has caused many children to continue to go unvaccinated) which linked vaccines and autism was published in the Lancet - a prestigious medical journal. It turned out the paper was highly flawed. But many had accepted it simply because it was in the Lancet. It took 12 years for it to be fully retracted and the impacts of that paper are still very much evident today. Care has to be taken when it comes to matters such as this that theory isn't spread as fact and that another false cause of autism does't cause fear and more stigma.

  • in reply to Stuart333

    It is worrying, but then people are discouraged from questioning and challenging, at best you get shushed at worst you end up talking to the police and if you question them arrested. You get mocked for asking for music in shops to be turned down because "everybody likes it". You can be kicked out of restaurants for asking if they have veggie, vegan and dairy free foods, or just laughed at and mocked, others join in too. It seems to take increasingly more courage to question things, people have lost the ability to agree to disagree.

  • in reply to TheCatWoman

    It's worrying how little people question stuff.

  • in reply to Expecto_Patronum

    Not all of us follow infuencers and other social media stuff, some of still rely on proper journalists and journalism, the so called legacy media, which from what I've seen is still much better by far, especially when attempts are made to be impartial.

    I don't think this country does to well at teaching critical thinking, or how to research. When we allowed to do "projects" as part of course work and were encouraged to go and look at books I think we all did far better and enjoyed it more, by that sort of thing fell by the wayside in various "reforms" that tried to prop up the exam system.

    I can't just say it happens in state schools either, I was shocked when talking to privately educated fellow students, who had so much spoon fed to them by tutors that although they might have had good exam results, didn't seem to have actually learned much.

  • in reply to TheCatWoman
    TheCatWoman said:
    I think a lot of it comes from bad journalism

    We don't really have much journalism any more. Most of this is from "influencers" of some shape of form who lack any training or credentials but know how to say things that appeal to their echo chamber audiences.

    TheCatWoman said:
    I don't think most people know how to research, it's not really taught in schools, nor is critical thinking

    From what I see is happening in the USA, critical thinking is being actively discouraged in schools and history is being rewritten to match the agendas of the party in power.

    Other countries right leaning parties are seeing the success there and are considering if they can achieve the same in their countries.

Reply
  • in reply to TheCatWoman
    TheCatWoman said:
    I think a lot of it comes from bad journalism

    We don't really have much journalism any more. Most of this is from "influencers" of some shape of form who lack any training or credentials but know how to say things that appeal to their echo chamber audiences.

    TheCatWoman said:
    I don't think most people know how to research, it's not really taught in schools, nor is critical thinking

    From what I see is happening in the USA, critical thinking is being actively discouraged in schools and history is being rewritten to match the agendas of the party in power.

    Other countries right leaning parties are seeing the success there and are considering if they can achieve the same in their countries.

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