Along with morning sickness, exhaustion, hormone roller coasters, and a million other natural indignities, pregnancy these days comes with a list of thou shalt nots longer than Leviticus.
Thou shalt not eat turkey sandwiches, thou shalt not have a glass of wine, thou shalt not touch soil where a cat may have walked, and some even say thou shalt not drink coffee. Thou shalt not exercise too much or sit too much. Outdoor air may harm your child, and so may inadequate sunshine. And whatever you do, don’t get stressed out.
Many of the rules for pregnant women are based on slim evidence combined with a total lack of perspective on trade-offs. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.‘s warning against using Tylenol (acetaminophen) adds another unsupported commandment to pregnant mothers, and like many of the others, it could cause more harm than good.
One of the reasons pregnant women suffer is because they’re told not to take Advil (ibuprofen) or aspirin. My wife, like me, has found ibuprofen much more effective for pain and fever relief. So if we were both sick with a headache, fever, and chills while she was pregnant (which was almost half the time for a decade), I got the good stuff and she got the weaker stuff: Tylenol.
RFK Jr.’s new label mandate tells women that this last remaining salve must go because he believes it causes autism in children.
We shouldn’t be making pregnancy any more difficult for women, especially amid our baby bust. Anything we warn pregnant women off of should be pretty well proven to cause harm, and Tylenol doesn’t meet that standard.
Check the bottom of the FDA announcement of its warning against acetaminophen:
“It is important to note that while an association between acetaminophen and neurological conditions has been described in many studies, a causal relationship has not been established, and there are contrary studies in the scientific literature.”
But it’s worse than that. Scaring pregnant mothers off acetaminophen could actually result in greater risks for the baby. Again, the FDA:
“It is also noted that acetaminophen is the only over-the-counter drug approved for use to treat fevers during pregnancy, and high fevers in pregnant women can pose a risk to their children. Additionally, aspirin and ibuprofen have well-documented adverse impacts on the fetus.”
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If mothers just suffer through a fever or turn to Advil instead, they could harm the baby.
In life, there are always trade-offs. Sloppy public health and steering women away from something totally unproven could do more harm than good.
