Video: https://www.tiktok.com/@distilledscience/video/7554528048033418526
Transcript
Tylenol is dangerous. This will make some of you angry, but there's a big problem with Trump's recent warning about Tylenol and autism. And with how everyone seems to be talking about it. Even some of my friends. It highlights a massive problem in science communication that puts people's health at risk. Watch. Effective immediately, the FDA will be notifying physicians at the use of... Well, let's see how we say that. Acidaminophen. Acetaminophen. Is that okay? known as Tylenol during pregnancy can be associated with a very increased risk of autism. So taking Tylenol is not good. I've seen a lot of people making fun of Trump for this, and then using it as a launching pad for then saying why everything that he said about Tylenol and autism is wrong. If you can't even pronounce a Cedaminopin, why should we trust anything he says about it? In logic, this is called an ad hominame, attacking the person rather than addressing their argument. be a scientific discussion and turns it political. But I don't think anyone expects Trump himself to have read the research here. He's just a messenger. Yet if you support Trump and you see a video that starts by making fun of his mistake, you're likely to discount anything else the video says because it's now turned into an us versus them debate rather than a scientific one. Research shows that our brains treat these political identity debates as like a lion's attack, turning off our prefrontal cortex and making us respond with our amygdala, emotional, fight or flight response. I bet that most people who saw this announcement had a gut response that it was either their existing beliefs, which for many science communicators was probably to try to prove him wrong. But I've seen a lot of very smart scientists also posting studies that support this link, at least enough to call for more research, according to them. But I could have predicted what most of these people would say based on their pre-stated political stances. And many posts came way too soon after the news broke to have conducted any sort of full literature review. It shows that our desire to confirm our existing worldview can affect anyone regardless of their credentials. I get the pressure to post. I feel it. But science should be about our quest to full. find evidence to change our beliefs. That's what a discovery is. Taking one pill of Tylenol is not going to harm anyone, pregnant or not, unless they're allergic. Taking more than 20 at once can cause liver failure. These conversations need nuance because many things can be true at once. A maternal fever of over 102 degrees can harm a fetus. But the very act of lowering a fever can blunt the immune response. And to make it more complicated, other NSAids like ibuprofen might be linked to miscarriages. And chronic use of Tylenol at even normal dosages might be linked to certain heart problems. The pain itself isn't harmless. The stress and poor sleep from constant pain is also linked to risks for the child, and mother. So what's the real danger? The fever, the pain, or the medication you take to treat them? It's a complex web to discuss with your doctor, not a simple headline. I am biased here, much as I try to fight it. And after reviewing the evidence, I do have opinions, which I'll put out in a video next week. But here I want to call for a more nuanced, level-headed dialogue at all levels, comment section included, across party lines. Raise your hand if you hate politics.
Additional notes
I don't really blame other creators for using tactics that will get them more views to help get important messages out. But it makes me very sad that this is the state of things that such tactics are required. (I will be doing a breakdown of the actual scientific claims being made in this address) I also have many problems with the communication style used by Trump to deliver this address, as it was full of cognitive biases, rhetorical fallacies, and scientifically inaccurate language, but we can get into those later. NOTE: It’s hard to get good data on Tylenol usage, because its use has been so ubiquitous that it’s hard to find people who DON’T take it when sick or in pain. A mother getting sick during pregnancy is linked to negative health outcomes in the child, so more sickness during pregnancy is often directly linked to more Tylenol usage, making it a strong confounder. Many of the studies being cited in this debate have methodological problems, as well as misaligned financial incentives. #science #scicomm #tylenol
References
- Trump/FDA Tylenol and autism warning discussed in transcript; direct source URL not listed in workbook.
- Studies on maternal sickness, fever, pregnancy outcomes, NSAIDs, chronic Tylenol use, pain, stress, and sleep are mentioned in transcript/caption; DOI/PMID/source links not listed in workbook.