President Donald Trump spent several days promising Americans that “an answer to autism” was imminent. Instead, his big reveal on Monday offered families distorted science, false hope, and unproven and at times dangerous medical advice.

Flanked by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other top federal health officials, Trump linked autism to the use of acetaminophen — the active ingredient in Tylenol — during pregnancy. This, despite decades of research showing that the medication is safe. He offered no evidence to the contrary.

He also repeated long-debunked claims that vaccines and the timing of the shots could be contributing to the increase in autism cases, also without presenting any evidence. And Trump and Kennedy announced that a form of folic acid called leucovorin might help treat symptoms of autism.

In promoting these unproven causes and treatments, Trump, Kennedy and other top health officials do a disservice not just to families and people with autism, but to pregnant women and children. The information provided at a rambling and often incoherent press briefing — during which Trump admonished pregnant women not to take Tylenol — could cause real harm. And it does nothing but create confusion and distract from genuine efforts to improve the lives of autistic people and their families.

The consensus among actual experts based on decades of research is that genetics — not just one gene, but hundreds — play a major role in autism. Scientists have also spent years trying to understand which environmental factors might magnify the inherited risk of autism.

And while early studies did suggest that acetaminophen might slightly raise the risk of autism, that research also failed to account for the reasons that pregnant women take the drug, explained David Mandell, associate director of the Center for Autism Research at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Fevers during pregnancy, for example, are known to increase the risk that a child will have a neurodevelopmental delay, and are also the reason someone would take Tylenol. More recent, robust studies out of Japan and Sweden that controlled for those variables found no link between Tylenol and autism.

Trump and his team dismissed those critiques. “Sure, you’ll be able to find a study to the contrary, that’s how science works,” said Marty Makary, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.

Trump, meanwhile, seemed to blame women and those who choose to take the drug.

“Don’t take Tylenol. Fight like hell not to take it,” he said, conceding that women who can’t “tough it out” might still choose to.

Acetaminophen is considered the only safe pain reliever a woman can take during pregnancy. But to those women Trump said, that’s something “you have to work out with yourself.”

That admonishment could easily dissuade American women from treating a symptom that could endanger their child. “Everybody knows a fever is really bad for the developing brain. That’s good science,” says Robert L. Hendren, a psychiatrist who works in the Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders and Neurodevelopmental Disorders Program at the University of California, San Francisco. For Trump to “tell mothers that they’re wimps if they take Tylenol — and if their kid gets autism and they’re the cause of it — that’s just a shame.”

Just as easy answers to explain complex conditions are scarce, so, too, are miracle cures. Yet Trump and his health leaders blithely overpromised on the potential of leucovorin, which they claimed could help with speech and behavioral problems in children with autism.

But that claim isn’t supported by the kind of “gold standard” science this administration has vowed to pursue. So far, the drug, which was approved in 2002 to address side effects of chemotherapy, has undergone limited testing for the treatment of autism. The largest study enrolled just 80 children, and the other, smaller trials had design flaws that cast doubt on any hints of efficacy.

Yet the FDA is already adding information to the leucovorin label to allow its use to treat cerebral folate deficiency, a neurodevelopmental disorder associated with autism.

“Suggesting that there’s something out there for families who are pretty desperate to do anything that they can to help their children is a waste of time, a waste of money, and honestly a waste of hope,” says Connie Kasari, a founding member of UCLA’s Center for Autism Research and Treatment. “Jumping to this kind of conclusion is really dangerous.”

That doesn’t mean leucovorin isn’t worth investigating. But families of children with autism deserve the kind of large, placebo-controlled studies that can definitively prove (or disprove) the drug’s efficacy and define who it might help. Parents have already suffered through too many fake treatments that have been, at best, expensive but benign, and at worst, horrifyingly harmful. That terrible history should be a reason for the administration to exercise caution when discussing any potential therapy — not contribute to the hype.

But Trump also went beyond the already troubling repositioning of autism priorities to riff on the childhood vaccine schedule, which he implied could be linked to the disorder. “Don’t let them pump your baby up with the largest pile of stuff you’ve ever seen in your life,” he said, suggesting the shots should be spread out over several years.

The president also opined that children shouldn’t receive the Hepatitis B shot until they are 12 (it is currently given at birth), and that the measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox shots should be administered separately. Pediatricians note that shots for those individual infections do not exist in the US, where children get a combination vaccine.

That the nation’s president used his platform to promote theories that have been thoroughly debunked across hundreds of studies endangers all children. Confidence in vaccines is already declining, a situation that has real consequences for public health — as was made clear by this year’s measles outbreak.

All of this seemed designed to stoke fears rather than calm them — and suggests the administration is more interested in easy “wins” than real solutions. As they sift through the raft of misleading and false information from their president, parents would do well to remember that the person with the best medical advice is their doctor.

Lisa Jarvis is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering biotech, health care and the pharmaceutical industry. Previously, she was executive editor of Chemical & Engineering News.

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Today is Friday, Sept. 26, the 269th day of 2025. There are 96 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Sept. 26, 1991, four men and four women began a two-year stay inside a sealed-off structure in Oracle, Arizona, called Biosphere 2; they emerged from Biosphere 2 on this date in 1993.

Also on this date:

In 1777, British troops occupied Philadelphia during the American Revolution.

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In 1954, the Japanese commercial ferry Toya Maru sank during a typhoon in the Tsugaru Strait, claiming more than 1,150 lives.

In 1960, the first nationally televised debate between presidential candidates took place as Democrat John F. Kennedy and Republican Richard M. Nixon faced off in Chicago.

In 1986, William H. Rehnquist was sworn in as the 16th chief justice of the United States, while Antonin Scalia joined the Supreme Court as its 103rd member. Rehnquist died in 2005 and Scalia in 2016.

In 1990, the Motion Picture Association of America announced it had created a new rating, NC-17, to replace the X rating.

In 2000, thousands of anti-globalization protesters clashed with police in demonstrations during a summit of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Prague.

In 2005, Army Pfc. Lynndie England was convicted by a military jury in Fort Hood, Texas, on six of seven counts stemming from the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal.

In 2020, President Donald Trump nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. (Barrett would be confirmed the following month.)

In 2022, NASA’s Dart mission became the first spacecraft to ram an asteroid in a dress rehearsal for deflecting a space object’s trajectory.

In 2024, Helene, a major Category 4 hurricane, made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region. It went on to cut a swath across Georgia and South Carolina before triggering historic flooding in North Carolina and Tennessee, causing an estimated $78 billion in damage and 219 deaths.

Today’s Birthdays:

Country singer David Frizzell is 84.
Television host Anne Robinson is 81.
Singer Bryan Ferry is 80.
Author Jane Smiley is 76.
Singer-guitarist Cesar Rosas (Los Lobos) is 71.
Actor Linda Hamilton is 69.
Actor Melissa Sue Anderson is 63.
Actor Jim Caviezel (kuh-VEE’-zuhl) is 57.
Singer Shawn Stockman (Boyz II Men) is 53.
Hockey Hall of Famers Daniel and Henrik Sedin are 45.
Tennis player Serena Williams is 44.
Singer-actor Christina Milian (MIHL’-ee-ahn) is 44.
Actor Zoe Perry is 42.

In motion on the first snap of the game, Dominic Baez took the handoff and sprinted through the secondary for an 80-yard touchdown.

The star running back accounted for 201 combined yards and a total of 3 touchdowns in St. Thomas Academy‘s 36-14 win over Apple Valley on Thursday at Rosemount High School. But he insisted the praise should go to his teammates, especially on his long touchdown run.

“I got out there, and I see [wide receiver] Manny Sims making one of the best touchdown blocks I’ve ever seen,” Baez said. “I look behind me, I see [offensive lineman] Andrew Nelson box a guy out and slow him down. That was all them.”

The Cadets, ranked No. 1 in Class 5A, stalled out offensively for much of the first half after Baez’s long run, until they inserted Ethan Ruiz at quarterback for their final drive of the first half. St Thomas Academy (5-0) proceeded to mount a 10-play, 78-yard drive to end the half. Ruiz connected with Sims for a 26-yard completion on the drive before Baez, who had seven carries for  36 yards on the drive, punched the ball in at the goal line for a 2-yard touchdown.

St. Thomas head coach Travis Walch said all elements of Baez’s game stand out.

“His balance, his vision, he can catch the ball,” Walch said. “We had him punting tonight because our kicker (Toren Plitingsrud) is our best soccer player, and he was at a soccer game tonight.”

The score gave St. Thomas a 15-0 lead with 15 seconds to play before halftime.

Baez gashed the Eagles’ defense for 139 yards on 16 carries in the first half alone. In what was a one-sided ballgame, St. Thomas outgained Apple Valley 198 to 94 over the first 24 minutes of play.

After back-to-back three-and-outs to open the second half, Apple Valley (2-3) methodically moved down the field to dent the scoreboard for the first time. An 11-play, 94-yard drive that was capped off with a 30-yard touchdown pass from senior
quarterback Q Barnslater to junior wide receiver Tyson Johnson to cut the Eagles’ deficit to 15-7.

But St. Thomas Academy responded on its ensuing possession with a quick five-play, 69-yard scoring drive. The Cadets went back to junior quarterback Tristan Karl under center in the second half, who finished off the possession by finding Grant English in the endzone for an 18-yard touchdown to extend the lead back to 15 points.

Apple Valley head coach Pete Usset said penalties plagued the Eagles in the second half, including a late hit that extended the Cadets’ third touchdown drive.

“It takes a full team effort to beat those guys,” Usset said. “And part of that team effort is being disciplined.”

St. Thomas’ offense motored on in the final quarter, scoring on the opening play of the frame. Baez, in motion on the snap, took the handoff then turned around and threw it back to Karl, who caught the ball in space and scored. Baez’s third total  touchdown gave St. Thomas a 29-7 lead, which put the game out of reach.

Senior defensive back Matthew Wagner put the exclamation point on the victory with an interception on a deep pass from Barnslater on the next possession.

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In an alternate timeline of Minnesota sports history, the NHL’s North Stars might have moved from Bloomington to downtown Minneapolis and shared Target Center with the NBA’s Timberwolves. Instead, Minnesota’s first pro hockey team moved to Texas in 1993, and became Thursday night’s foe – the Dallas Stars – for the Minnesota Wild’s preseason home opener.

And with discussion about the venues for NBA and NHL teams in the Twin Cities heating up again, 30-plus years later, the Wild’s owner made it clear that discussion of a shared facility for the hockey and basketball teams is a non-starter.

“We are gonna stay in St. Paul, and they’re gonna stay in Minneapolis,” said Wild owner Craig Leipold, talking to reporters in his Grand Casino Arena suite between periods on Thursday. “It’s pretty hard to negotiate from that point.”

The Wild have a decade remaining on their lease at Grand Casino Arena, which opened with the Wild the franchise’s arrival in Minnesota.

With the crowd still buzzing from two Marco Rossi goals just 10 seconds apart late in the first period, Leipold offered a bit of a buzzkill immediately, making it clear that he was not going to answer questions about the status of standout forward Kirill Kaprizov. There has been silence from both the team and from the player regarding Kaprizov’s future in Minnesota after the Russian star reportedly rejected the team’s initial contract extension offer of six years and $128 million.

“I really am serious. There’s nothing to gain, everything to lose,” Leipold said when pressed about Kaprizov’s situation. “I’m not touching this.”

With general manager Bill Guerin standing behind him, the owner reiterated that he has put things in the hands of his front office.

“I have a lot of patience. Billy’s the guy,” Leipold said. “He’s the one that does the negotiating no matter who it is. That’s his responsibility, his role. I think we’ve got a great relationship.”

When a reporter compared Kaprizov to former star forward Marian Gaborik, Leipold pushed back. Gaborik, heading into the final year of his contract in Minnesota, was injured early in the 2008-09 campaign, and the Wild were unable to trade or re-sign him. Gaborik eventually signed a free agent contract with the New York Rangers, with the Wild getting nothing in return.

“The Gaborik situation was a disappointing situation, but this is entirely different,” Leipold said.

On a day that began with the Wild unveiling a throwback jersey to commemorate their 25th year since joining the NHL as an expansion team in 2000, Leipold talked at length about the team’s arena, reiterating the need to update the rink to bring it more in line with the modern amenities offered at newer venues like Target Field (opened in 2010) and U.S. Bank Stadium (opened in 2016) in Minneapolis.

After their request for more than $700 million in state funding was barely considered at the State Capitol during the 2025 legislative session, Leipold talked of support from St. Paul mayor Melvin Carter and county government officials who are “listening” as the team prepares to ask the state for around $100 million in 2026.

“In order to survive in the NHL, you not only have to be in a market, a great market, which we are in,” he said. “We need to be in a really good building that gives us the opportunity and the chance to take advantage of all of the revenue streams that our competitors have in the NHL.”

Leipold was the first owner of the NHL’s expansion Nashville Predators in 1997, and sold that team to purchase the Wild from original owner Bob Naegele Jr. in 2008. He noted that despite the Wild not making it past the first round of the playoffs for more than a decade, season ticket renewals were at a 93 percent rate over the summer. And he admitted that getting past round one is very, very important both fiscally and psychologically, for the franchise and its fans.

“A second round run is really important. A third round run is outstanding,” he said. Asked about a “fourth round run,” which would mean a Minnesota team in the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 1991, Leipold looked flushed.

“I can’t even let my mind go there yet,” he said.

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