On September 22, President Donald Trump and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. held a truly historic press conference at the White House, in an event including CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary. The remarks and discussion outlined the appalling and alarming rising rates of autism in the United States, and shared ongoing and future federal actions aimed to investigate the causes of this rise, and proposed some immediate solutions to address the crisis particularly in infants and children. These government officials notably shared the microphone with mothers whose children had regressed into autism, who shared their challenges and hopes with the gathered journalists. Secretary Kennedy and NIH Directory Bhattacharya shared exciting plans to expand research initiatives into root causes of autism, and best practices to manage or reduce symptoms.
The event was refreshing in its sole focus on this often-ignored, and often severe condition that impacts quality of life for millions of children and their families. The primary stated topic of the event was the association between acetaminophen and autism in fetal, infant, and childhood development, and the federal actions that are now being taken to address this apparent link.
However, this even was unprecedented and historic for another reason—the President was extremely direct in his concerns on the vaccination schedule more broadly, shattering the official silence on many issues that have worried millions of American families for years. He drew on common sense concerns, and the evidence he observed with his own eyes.
He questioned the sheer volume of vaccines being mandated for children early on:
They pump so much stuff into those beautiful little babies, it's a disgrace. I think it's very bad. It's like they're pumping [vaccines] into a horse. You have a little child, a little fragile child, and you get a vat of 80 different vaccines[. . .] and they pump it in.
He also commented on the grouping of so many vaccines together during routine childhood vaccinations:
"[. . .] it would be good instead of one visit they did it 4 times or 5 [visits to the doctor]. It seems to be that when you mix them, there could be a problem[. . .] so let it be separate."
He referenced that the chicken pox vaccine is already separated, a reference to the new guidance to move away from Measles-Mumps-Rubella-Varicella (MMRV) to a two visit, MMR+V from the recent ACIP meeting deliberation, which has yet to be fully integrated into CDC policy. President Trump also repeatedly argued for going further, allowing for a separate visit for each shot of the MMR, to potentially mitigate injury or interactions between the shots.
The President also shared personal experiences, like one where he witnessed his colleague's child regress in terms of developmental changes after vaccination with such a heavy required schedule. He questioned how society can allow us to "... go from all of those healthy babies to a point where... you have families destroyed over this."
President Trump was explicit on the issue of adjuvants and preservatives. He stated that:
"We want no mercury in the vaccine, we want no aluminum in the vaccine. [. . .] you know what mercury is, you know what aluminum is, who the hell wants that pumped into a body? We're having them taken out of the vaccines."
These common sense concerns resonate with the public, as they scramble to understand what has potentially led to such high rates of autism among American children.
Regarding the Hepatitis B vaccination requirement on the first day post-birth, the President was frank about his disagreement with how soon it is administered.
"It's sexually transmitted. There is no reason to give a baby who was just born, Hepatitis B [vaccine]. So I say, wait until the baby is 12 years old. And if you do those things it's going to be a revolution in a positive sense in the country."
President Trump mentioned that these were his personal statements on the topic that he hoped would be put into practice, but by speaking these thoughts aloud, it was a rare and historical event of honest reflection from a sitting president of the United States on the topic.
Similarly, Health Freedom Defense Fund (HFDF) looks forward to these concerns translating into action and policy change that provides more flexibility, bodily autonomy, and freedom to choose (or not choose) any medical treatment or public health intervention. HFDF has consistently shared concerns about the use and cumulative volume of these neurotoxic substances in childhood vaccines.[1]
Regarding the formal announcement on acetaminophen, HFDF welcomes that the event included an open discussion of the long-suspected association between the development of autism and use of acetaminophen (common brand name Tylenol) in pregnancy, following decades of study culminating in a Harvard-led systematic review of studies in August of this year.[2] The biological mechanisms for this association include the fact that acetaminophen crosses the placenta, causing endocrine disruption, oxidative stress, and epigenetic changes, all of which can affect brain development in the womb, allowing for any auto-immune responses and inflammation to wreak more biological havoc due to its use.
In the review, "higher quality" studies showed more association between acetaminophen and autism, than those they reviewed that they considered of "lower quality", which is broadly considered a sign that the hypothesis has considerable empirical merit. Furthermore, outside the scope of this specific Harvard-led review, rigorous research shows that use of acetaminophen in children and babies is even more strongly associated, due to children's inability to break down the drugs metabolically.[3]
The President announced that FDA guidance and labeling would shift to indicate the danger of the use of acetaminophen in pregnant women and children. The White House event also included discussion of indicating Leucovorin, a modified B9 medicine, for the mitigation of autism symptoms given promising early data. Leucovorin has been used in the past for counteracting the effects of chemotherapy drugs.
HFDF points out that the number of people, including pregnant women, who have been taking acetaminophen in the U.S. has remained stable as the autism rate has skyrocketed, so there are certainly other underlying causes for autism, with acetaminophen likely playing an important but partial role. Many countries with no general acetaminophen access other than through prescription, see autism at much lower rates.
HFDF emphasizes that other environmental factors, including other medicines, vaccines (and the adjuvants, ingredients, and preservatives therein), and even glyphosate in food and water could play critical roles as well.[4] This can explain differences between countries—the US uses the most glyphosate, mandates more vaccines, and uses more over-the-counter Tylenol than any country in the world, and continues to suffer from some of the highest rates of autism.[5]
Despite the predictable push-back in the media to this announcement, the peer-reviewed, methodologically rigorous study concluded clearly:
Our analyses using the Navigation Guide thus support evidence consistent with an association between acetaminophen exposure during pregnancy and increased incidence of NDDs. Appropriate and immediate steps should be taken to advise pregnant women to limit acetaminophen consumption to protect their offspring’s neurodevelopment.
This is an appropriate and timely first step.
HFDF sincerely hopes this will be linked to further research and analysis on other root causes of pediatric acquired auto-immunity and inflammation, which operate in concert with the well-studied acetaminophen-facilitated pathway.
More broadly, the event was historically significant and unprecedented in its directness, with a sitting President of the United States tackling the dogmas of the vaccination paradigm using common sense, and calling for policy change. HFDF insists that for the sake of the children suffering with autism, and those children yet to be born who may yet develop the disease, openness and honesty must now be paired with a willingness to act.
[1] https://healthfreedomdefense.org/safety-of-aluminum-levels-in-childhood-vaccines/
[2] https://hsph.harvard.edu/news/using-acetaminophen-during-pregnancy-may-increase-childrens-autism-and-adhd-risk/
[3] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28415925/
[4] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11302971/
[5] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9947250/
