Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against the makers of Tylenol, Johnson & Johnson and Kenvue, becoming the first state attorney general to take legal action following the Trump administration’s warning against the pain reliever.
The Texas filing comes one month after President Donald Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. encouraged pregnant women not to take the acetaminophen pill out of concern for its possible links to autism. Several medical groups, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, have warned that the administration’s guidance will confuse mothers and oversimplifies a complex issue.
Paxton made the court filing Monday, writing that it comes as “mounting scientific evidence” links “prenatal and early-childhood exposure to acetaminophen with” Autism and ADHD.
“For decades, Defendants JOHNSON & JOHNSON, KENVUE, INC., and KENVUE BRANDS LLC knew that acetaminophen—Tylenol’s active ingredient—is dangerous to unborn children and young children. Yet they hid this danger and deceptively marketed Tylenol as the only safe painkiller for pregnant women, violating the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices-Consumer Protection Act,” the lawsuit reads.
Johnson & Johnson created the independent company Kenvue in August 2023, giving the spinoff control of its brands such as Tylenol, Band-Aid, Neutrogena, and Listerine. Paxton alleged the company “fraudulently transferred its Tylenol-related liabilities to Kenvue” in an effort “to shield its ill-gotten assets from the families they harmed.”
Johnson & Johnson “divested its consumer health business years ago, and all rights and liabilities associated with the sale of its over-the-counter products, including Tylenol (acetaminophen), are owned by Kenvue,” a spokesperson for the company said in a statement to the New York Times.
Kenvue called the concerns about the safety of acetaminophen “misinformation” and committed to fighting the lawsuit.
“Acetaminophen is the safest pain reliever option for pregnant women as needed throughout their entire pregnancy. Without it, women face dangerous choices: suffer through conditions like fever that are potentially harmful to both mom and baby or use riskier alternatives. High fevers and pain are widely recognized as potential risks to a pregnancy if left untreated,” Kenvue said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
“We will vigorously defend ourselves against these claims and respond per the legal process. We stand firmly with the global medical community that acknowledges the safety of acetaminophen and believe we will continue to be successful in litigation as these claims lack legal merit and scientific support,” the statement continued.
Paxton filed the lawsuit on two counts, alleging the companies violated both Texas’s Deceptive Trade Practices-Consumer Protection Act and its Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act.
“Big Pharma betrayed America by profiting off of pain and pushing pills regardless of the risks. These corporations lied for decades, knowingly endangering millions to line their pockets,” Paxton said in a statement.
RFK JR. CITES CIRCUMCISION IN DEFENDING TYLENOL-AUTISM LINK
Doctors have recommended acetaminophen to pregnant women for decades as the safest way to reduce fevers and treat pain while pregnant. Research on the relationship between acetaminophen and Autism Spectrum Disorder has varied, but many physicians say evidence does not support a causal relationship.
Kennedy vowed early in his tenure as HHS secretary to get to the root causes of Autism, as the disorder has been drastically rising since the early 2000s.
