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President Donald Trump on Monday used the platform of the presidency to promote unproven and in some cases discredited ties between Tylenol, vaccines and autism as his administration announced a wide-ranging effort to study the causes of the complex brain disorder.“Don’t take Tylenol,” Trump instructed pregnant women around a dozen times during the unwieldy White House news conference, also urging mothers not to give their infants the drug, known by the generic name acetaminophen in the U.S. or paracetamol in most other countries. He also fueled long-debunked claims that ingredients in vaccines or timing shots close together could contribute to rising rates of autism in the U.S., without providing any medical evidence.The rambling announcement, which appeared to rely on existing studies rather than significant new research, comes as the Make America Healthy Again movement has been pushing for answers on the causes of autism. The diverse coalition of supporters of Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. includes several anti-vaccine activists who have long spread debunked claims that immunizations are responsible.The announcement also sheds light on Trump’s own long-held fascination with autism and his trepidation about the childhood vaccine schedule, even as the president has taken pride in his work to disseminate COVID-19 vaccines during his first term.Medical experts said Trump’s remarks were irresponsible. New York University bioethicist Art Caplan said it was “the saddest display of a lack of evidence, rumors, recycling old myths, lousy advice, outright lies, and dangerous advice I have ever witnessed by anyone in authority.”Trump announced during the event that the Food and Drug Administration would begin notifying doctors that the use of acetaminophen “can be associated” with an increased risk of autism, but did not immediately provide justification for the new recommendation.Evidence for potential link between Tylenol and autism is not conclusiveSome studies have raised the possibility that taking acetaminophen during pregnancy might increase the risk of autism but many others haven’t found that concern, said autism expert David Mandell of the University of Pennsylvania.One challenge is that it’s hard to disentangle the effects of Tylenol use from the effects of high fevers during pregnancy. Fevers, especially in the first trimester, can increase the risk for miscarriages, preterm birth and other problems, according to the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine.Trump also urged not giving Tylenol to young children, but scientists say that research indicates autism develops in the fetal brain.Responding to Trump’s warnings, the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine said they still recommend Tylenol as an appropriate option to treat fever and pain during pregnancy. The president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said Monday that suggestions that Tylenol use in pregnancy causes autism are “irresponsible when considering the harmful and confusing message they send to pregnant patients.”Trump press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Monday evening that the administration “does not believe popping more pills is always the answer for better health” and that it “will not be deterred in these efforts as we know millions across America are grateful.”Tylenol maker Kenvue disputed any link between the drug and autism on Monday and said in a statement that if pregnant mothers don’t use Tylenol when in need, they could face a dangerous choice between suffering fevers or using riskier painkiller alternatives. Shares of Kenvue Inc. fell 7.5% in trading Monday, reducing the company’s market value by about $2.6 billion.Kennedy announced during the news conference that at Trump’s urging, he was launching a new all-agency effort to uncover all the factors that could be contributing to autism, a question scientists have been researching for decades. Trump administration explores the potential role of folate FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary also took the stage to announce it was taking the first steps to try to approve a folic acid metabolite called leucovorin as a treatment option for patients believed to have low levels of folate in the brain. That may include some people with autism.Leucovorin is used to counteract the side effects of various prescription drugs, including chemotherapy and other high-dose medications that can negatively impact the immune system. It works by boosting folate levels, a form of vitamin B that’s critical to the body’s production of healthy red blood cells.Women already are told to take folic acid before conception and during pregnancy because it reduces the chances of certain birth defects known as neural tube defects.In recent years a handful of studies have suggested positive results when high-dose folic acid is used to treat children with autism, with researchers in China and other countries reporting improvements in social skills and other metrics. Those small studies have been quickly embraced by some parts of the autism community online.The theory is that some, not all, children with autism may not properly metabolize folate, Mandell said. But the recent studies “are really tiny,” he said. To prove an effect, “we would need an independent, large, rigorously controlled randomized trial.” Decades of studies show no link between vaccines and autism During the press conference, Trump said he’s a believer in vaccines but claimed without evidence that giving vaccinations close together at the recommended ages has a link to autism. Spacing out shots as he suggests can lead to an increased risk that children become infected with a vaccine-preventable disease before returning for another visit.Though anti-vaccine activists, including Kennedy, have long suggested a link between vaccines and autism, widespread scientific consensus and decades of studies have firmly concluded there isn’t one.Autism is not a disease but a complex developmental condition that affects different people in different ways. It can include delays in language, learning or social and emotional skills. For some people, profound autism means being nonverbal and having intellectual disabilities, but the vast majority of people with autism experience far milder effects.The disorder affects 1 in 31 U.S. children today, a sharp rise from just a few years ago, according to the CDC. Experts say the increase is mainly due to a new definition for the disorder that now includes mild cases on a “spectrum” and better diagnoses. They say there is no single cause to the disorder and say the rhetoric appears to ignore and undermine decades of science into the genetic and environmental factors that can play a role.The announcement is the latest step the administration, driven by Kennedy and his supporters, has taken to reshape America’s public health landscape.Beyond cutbacks at federal health agencies, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been roiled by disagreements over Kennedy’s vaccine policies. An influential immunization panel stocked by Kennedy with figures who have been citical of vaccines last week changed shot guidance for COVID-19 and other diseases.Swenson reported from New York. Associated Press writers Matthew Perrone and Laura Ungar contributed to this report. Ali Swenson and Lauran Neergaard, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
The Trump administration’s hefty new visa fees for H-1B workers have prompted high-level talks inside companies in Silicon Valley and beyond on the possibility of moving more jobs overseas precisely the outcome the policy was meant to stop. U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday announced the change to the visa program that has long been a recruitment pathway for tech firms and encouraged international students to pursue postgraduate courses in the United States. While the $100,000 levy applies only to new applicants not current holders as first announced the confusion around its roll-out and steep cost are already leading companies to pause recruitment, budgeting and workforce plans, according to Reuters interviews of founders, venture capitalists and immigration lawyers who work with technology companies. “I have had several conversations with corporate clients where they have said this new fee is simply unworkable in the U.S., and it’s time for us to start looking for other countries where we can have highly skilled talent,” said Chris Thomas, an immigration attorney at Colorado-based law firm Holland & Hart. “And these are large companies, some of them household names, Fortune 100 type companies, that are saying, we just simply cannot continue.” About 141,000 new applications for H-1B were approved in 2024, according to Pew Research. Though Congress caps new visas at 65,000 a year, total approvals run higher because petitions from universities and some other categories are excluded from the cap. Computer-related jobs accounted for a majority of the new approvals, the Pew data showed. FIRMS WILL CUT H-1B WORKERS The Trump administration and critics of the H-1B program have said that it has been used to suppress wages and curbing it opens more jobs for U.S. tech workers. The H-1B visa program has also made it more challenging for college graduates trying to find IT jobs, Trump’s announcement on Friday said. The visa previously cost employers only a few thousand dollars. But the new $100,000 fee would flip the equation, making hiring talent in countries like India where wages are lower and Big Tech now builds innovation hubs instead of back offices more attractive, experts and executives told Reuters. “We probably have to reduce the number of H-1B visa workers we can hire,” said Sam Liang, co-founder and CEO of popular artificial intelligence transcription start-up Otter. “Some companies may have to outsource some of their workforce. Hire maybe in India or other countries just to walk around this H-1B problem.” BAD FOR STARTUPS While conservatives have long applauded Trump’s wide-ranging immigration crackdown, the H-1B move has drawn support from some liberal quarters as well. Netflix co-founder and well-known Democrat donor Reed Hastings who said he has followed H-1B politics for three decades argued on X that the new fees would remove the need for a lottery and instead reserve visas for “very high value jobs” with greater certainty. But Deedy Das, a partner at venture capital firm Menlo Ventures that has invested in startups such as AI firm Anthropic, said “blanket rulings like this are rarely good for immigration” and would disproportionately affect startups. Unlike large technology companies whose compensation packages are a combination of cash and stock, pay packages of startups typically lean towards equity as they need cash to build the business. “For larger companies, the cost is not material. For smaller companies, those with fewer than 25 employees, it’s much more significant,” said Das. “Big tech CEOs expected this and will pay. For them, fewer small competitors is even an advantage. Its the smaller startups that suffer most.” INNOVATION AT RISK The policy could also mean fewer of the talented immigrants who often go on to launch new firms, analysts said. More than half of U.S. startups valued at $1 billion or more had at least one immigrant founder, according to a 2022 report from the National Foundation for American Policy, a nonpartisan think tank based in Virginia. Several lawyers said startups they represent are pinning hopes on lawsuits that argue the administration overstepped by imposing a fee beyond what Congress envisioned, betting courts would dilute the rule before costs cripple hiring. If not, “we will see a pullback from the smartest people around the world,” said Bilal Zuberi, founder of Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm Red Glass Ventures, who began his career in the U.S. on an H-1B visa. Additional reporting by Krystal Hu Aditya Soni and Echo Wang, Reuters
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E-Commerce
President Donald Trump’s contentious relationship with U.S. news organizations has led to a host of legal battles and disputes, the latest of which came with ABC’s suspension and days later return of the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” show.Trump had celebrated the suspension of Kimmel, a veteran late-night comic and frequent critic of the president and his policies, calling it “great news for America.”Kimmel was pulled last week after a monologue included a reference to the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, and compared Trump’s grief to “how a 4-year-old mourns a goldfish.”FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, a Trump appointee, said his agency had a strong case for holding Kimmel, ABC and its parent company Walt Disney Co., accountable for spreading misinformation. Nexstar and Sinclair, two of ABC’s largest affiliate owners, said they would pull the show from their stations.But by Monday, ABC said the show would be back on starting Tuesday.Here is a look at some of the key disputes Trump has had with media over his second term:Sept. 22: ABC reinstates Kimmel’s late night show ABC said in a statement that the decision to reinstate the show came after days of “thoughtful conversations” with Kimmel, who has hosted his show on ABC since 2003.Andrew Kolvet, a spokesperson for Turning Point USA, the organization founded by Kirk, said in a statement on X: “Disney and ABC caving and allowing Kimmel back on the air is not surprising, but it’s their mistake to make. Nexstar and Sinclair do not have to make the same choice.”Sinclair announced on X on Monday that it plans to replace the show with news programming, saying that “discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show’s potential return.”Nexstar and Sinclair did not immediately respond to messages from The Associated Press seeking comment.Word of Kimmel’s return came after hundreds of movie, TV and stage stars as well as comedians, directors and writers added their names to an open letter Monday from the American Civil Liberties Union that says it is “a dark moment for freedom of speech in our nation.”Sept. 19: Judges tosses Trump’s lawsuit against New York Times A Florida federal judge tossed out a $15 billion defamation lawsuit that Trump filed against The New York Times. U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday ruled that Trump’s lawsuit was overly long and was full of “tedious and burdensome” language that had no bearing on the legal case.“A complaint is not a megaphone for public relations or a podium for a passionate oration at a political rally,” Merryday wrote in the order. “This action will begin, will continue, and will end in accord with the rules of procedure and in a professional and dignified manner.”The judge ruled that Trump has 28 days to file an amended complaint that should not exceed 40 pages in length.The lawsuit targeted four of the newspaper’s journalists, a book and three articles published within a two-month period before the 2024 presidential election.The book and an article written by Times reporters Russ Buettner and Susanne Craig focused on Trump’s finances and his pre-presidency starring role in television’s “The Apprentice.”Trump also cited an article by Peter Baker last Oct. 20 headlined “For Trump, a Lifetime of Scandals Heads Toward a Moment of Judgment” and a Michael S. Schmidt piece two days later featuring an interview with Trump’s first-term chief of staff, John Kelly, headlined “As Election Nears, Kelly Warns Trump Would Rule Like a Dictator.”The Times has called the lawsuit meritless and an attempt to discourage independent reporting. July 18: Trump sues The Wall Street Journal Trump filed a $10 billion lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and media mogul Rupert Murdoch whose News Corp owns the paper. The move came a day after the Journal published a story reporting on his ties to financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.The article described a sexually suggestive letter that the newspaper says bore Trump’s name and was included in a 2003 album compiled for Epstein’s 50th birthday.The Justice Department had earlier asked a federal court to unseal grand jury transcripts in Epstein’s sex trafficking case. The Trump administration had announced it would not be releasing additional files from the case. July 18: ‘The Late Show With Stephen Colbert’ canceled CBS announced it would cancel “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” next May. Colbert is one of Trump’s most prominent and persistent late-night critics. CBS said “Late Show” was canceled for financial reasons, not for content. However, the announcement came three days after Colbert criticized the settlement between Trump and CBS parent company Paramount Global over the “60 Minutes” story. July 2: CBS owner agrees to settlement with Trump Paramount Global decided to pay Trump $16 million to settle a lawsuit regarding editing of a CBS’ “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris last October. At the time Harris was the Democratic candidate for president.Trump’s lawyers claimed he suffered “mental anguish” following the interview and sued for $20 billion. The company was hoping to put the issue to rest as it sought administration approval of a merger. Paramount, which owns CBS, said the money will go to Trump’s future presidential library and to pay his legal fees. May 1: Trump slashes funding for PBS and NPR Trump signed an executive order aimed at slashing public subsidies to PBS and NPR and alleged “bias” in the broadcasters’ reporting. His order instructed the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and other federal agencies “to cease Federal funding for NPR and PBS” and further requires that that they work to root out indirect sources of public financing for the news organizations.Later that month, NPR and three of its local stations sued Trump, arguing that the order violated their free speech and relies on an authority that he does not have. This summer, Congress approved eliminating $1.1 billion allocated to public broadcasting. Feb. 12: Trump removes the AP from White House press pool Trump decided to remove the AP from the White House press pool. That meant AP journalists no longer would have access to theOval Office, Air Force One and other events not open to a full press corps. The move was in retaliation for AP’s decision not to follow his lead in changing the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America in all instances.The AP Stylebook calls for referring to the body of water by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump chose. The reasoning is that AP disseminates news around the world and must ensure that place names and geography are easily recognizable to all audiences.The wire service later sued Trump and a district court sided with the AP in April, affirming on First Amendment grounds that the government cannot punish the news organization for the content of its speech. A federal appeals court in June stayed that decision. December 2024: ABC agrees to settle defamation lawsuit ABC News agreed to pay $15 million toward Trump’s presidential library as part of a defamation lawsuit settlement over anchor George Stephanopoulos’ inaccurate on-air assertion that the president-elect had been found civilly liable of raping writer E. Jean Carroll. The network also agreed to pay $1 million in legal fees.The settlement agreement described ABC’s presidential library payment as a “charitable contribution.”Trump sued ABC and Stephanopoulos in a Miami federal court in March 2024 after the network aired the segment in which Stephanopoulos repeatedly misstated the verdicts in Carroll’s two civil lawsuits against Trump. Neither verdict involved a finding of rape as defined under New York law. Associated Press
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E-Commerce
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