Criching of facts three claims made that Trump on autism

President Donald Trump attracted the conviction of health experts, after trying to say that there was a link between tylenol and widely used autism.

Accompanied by his health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, Trump said that doctors would soon be invited not to recommend the medication – called paracetamol in certain other countries, including the United Kingdom – to pregnant women.

Complaints were attacked by medical experts. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said that the announcement was “disturbing” and not based on “reliable data”, while the National Autism Society of the United Kingdom called the Trump Declaration “dangerous, it is anti-science and it is irresponsible”.

BBC VERIFY examined some of the allegations that Trump and Kennedy formulated during their press conference at the White House.

During the event, Trump has listed a number of statistics which, according to him, have shown that autism diagnoses in the United States have quickly increased in the past two decades.

First, the American president said that the incidence had gone from around “one in 10,000 … probably 18 years ago” one in 31 “by 2025.

The final statistics cited by Trump – that autism rates have increased to one in 31 – is correct. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) centers in 2022 have revealed that the level of diagnosis in eight -year -old children in 16 American states.

Although this rate increased 18 years ago, it did not increase by something like the figure quoted by Trump. Although there was no figure for 2007 – the year cited by Trump – in 2006, the CDC estimated that the autism rate in the American population is 1 in 110. In 2008, it was 1 out of 88.

Most experts claim that the increase in autism rates can be mainly attributed to changes in the way in which the condition is diagnosed, as well as more and more and more people tested.

Trump also said on Sunday that California had a “more serious problem” with autism than other states interviewed by the CDC.

The CDC estimated that in 2022, about 1 boys out of 12 of eight in California was autistic – the highest rate for boys in the study in 16 American states.

But the agency noted that the State had financed local training in the training of hundreds of local pediatricians “to filter and refer children for evaluation as soon as possible, which could lead to higher” autism.

Another assertion made by Trump concerns the effects of mumps, measles and rubella vaccine (MMR). The American president said that vaccinations should “be taken separately” rather than a combined photo and that “it seems that when you mix them, there could be a problem”.

Experts fear that if parents refrain from having their children vaccinated as a result of their unfounded affirmations, this risks the re -emergence of diseases and measles.

The discredited idea that infantile vaccines are linked to autism initially attracted traditional attention after an article published in 1998 in the medical journal The Lancet by British doctor Andrew Wakefield.

Wakefield was later proven to have conflicts of financial interests – including some of its test patients linked to a pursuit against vaccine companies – and General Medical Council (GMC) of the United Kingdom (GMC) have found that its results were falsified. The research document was retracted and Wakefield was struck off by the GMC in 2010.

Since then, several studies have not found any link between the ROR vaccine and autism. The most recent – a high quality study of Denmark in 2019 examined 657,461 children and concluded that the data did not support the ROR vaccine causing or triggering autism.

On its website, the American CDC recommends that two doses of the combined ROR vaccine be given to children, starting with the first dose at 12-15 months and the second between four and six years.

According to the British government, there is “no evidence” that the JABs should be taken separately. He notes that any decision to do it “would be experimental”.

This year, the United States has seen the highest cases for measles in more than three decades. According to the CDC, 1,491 cases have been confirmed so far. Three people died.

“President Trump has produced no evidence that the current vaccination calendar in the United States was harmful and no evidence that giving the MMR combined vaccine was dangerous,” said David Elliman – Associate Professor of Children at the University College in London.

“Supporters of a link between the ROR vaccine and autism cite the 1998 research document in Lancet, whose first author was Andrew Wakefield,” he added. “In fact, the authors of the article clearly indicated in the document that they had not proven a link but suggested that more research should be carried out. This research has been carried out, and no proof of a link has been found.”

Experts also say that allowing time between JABs means that children are more likely to contract disease in the meantime or that they are more likely to miss appointments if there are several plans.

Trump quoted the Amish as a group in the United States which “practically no autism” in their community.

Amish generally live in distant communities and refuse to adopt many characteristics of modern life, which may include a hint of modern pharmaceutical products. Trump suggested – without providing evidence – that a low rate of use of tylenol within the group could have caused a lower autism rate.

There are relatively few studies on autism rates within the Amish community. Many children are diagnosed in school – but most Amish abandon school after eight grades, aged about 14.

“I think it is very very unlikely that there are no autistic people among the Amish,” said Eva Loth, professor of cognitive neuroscience at King’s College London, at BBC Verify.

“The question is how many population studies have been conducted with the Amish? And are Amish people likely to request a diagnosis? So there are a certain number of reasons why the figures reported can be low, but that does not mean that there is no case.”

In a 2010 study, a team of geneticists found that autism occurred in approximately one in 271 Amish children. Research projected 1,899 children in two large Amish communities in Ohio and Indiana.

However, it should be noted that research on this subject is limited, and we have not found any study that suggests a link between the low immunization rates and the diagnosis of autism in Amish.

Trump made a similar statement on low autism levels in Cuba – saying that tylenol supplies are low on the island as reason.

We don’t know what President Trump was based on the assertion. BBC VERIFY found no official Cuban statistics and the World Health Organization (WHO) noted that the “prevalence of autism in many low and intermediate income countries is unknown”.

Trump has expressed an intermittent increase in autism rates in American children for almost 20 years. In 2007, he first publicly suggested believing that there was a link between vaccines and increasing prevalence.

The president has expressed his interest in Kennedy’s work since 2017, when Kennedy said Trump asked him to lead a working group on vaccine safety. Seven years later, Kennedy – who then surveyed about 5% – abandoned his candidacy for the presidency and approved Trump.

In a call disclosed with Kennedy during the electoral campaign and in which the Republican tried to coax the independent to support him – Trump was heard discredited discredited allegations concerning the health risks of infant vaccines. After the elections, Trump announced it as his choice to lead the Ministry of Health and Social Services, with a mandate to “make America again healthy”.

However, during his first mandate, Trump supported certain vaccination campaigns. During an epidemic of measles in 2019 in the United States, he said that people “should get the gunshots. Vaccinations are so important”, and it was his administration that supervised rapid development and early deployment of COVVI-19 vaccinations.

Additional reports: Joshua Cheetham