In other medical news, the Waisman
Center on the UW-Madison campus
is a leader in research and
care of people with autism.
So what did professionals there
think when this week President
Donald Trump told pregnant women
not to take Tylenol as
his administration warned of an
association with acetaminophen
and autism?
At the same time, the FDA
commissioner also announced the
agency would work to fast-track
a folic acid tabloid called
the Covrin to treat autism.
Director at Waisman Center's Autism
and Developmental Disabilities
Clinic, Lily Wagner, joins
us. And thanks very much for being
here. Yeah. Thank you for having me.
So first to the announcement, the
Tylenol use in pregnancy is
associated with autism in children.
Is that true?
I think the best
answer that we have and that we
can tell patients of ours
confidently is that the really
good science and good studies do
not support that
Tylenol causes autism.
We do have decades
of research showing that
things like maternal fever and
pain during pregnancy can
have significant risks,
including including some
developmental delays or differences.
But no, there's
no evidence of a causal
relationship.
So what kind of calls has your
clinic been getting from families
about this?
Yeah, I think, as you can imagine,
we have a lot of moms
who are feeling a
lot of different things right now.
Very distressed, very
a lot of guilt,
a lot of worry about
this.
And I think one
thing that we're trying to tell
families is that they don't
have to make
the decision about whether or not to
use Tylenol by themselves.
You know, we were trying to really
encourage them to reach out
to their trusted health care
providers, their pediatrician, their
own personal doctor or OBGYN,
and have them walk
them through the studies that are
showing these associations and
walk them through the
recommendations that are put out
there by professional organizations.
Because, you know, it is
so confusing, all the mixed
messages out there and they
should, they should be able to get
guidance from people they trust.
Now, the number of children
diagnosed with autism has been on
the rise. Do researchers know why?
Yes, so the newest prevalence
rates, it has been increasing
for probably, prevalence has been
increasing for the past 20 years.
I think now we're at one in 31 as
the most recent numbers.
And there are likely, there
are many different reasons
for that.
There is increased
access to services.
There are better children are
being identified.
Much earlier,
they're being identified, we have
better screening practices.
The diagnostic criteria has changed
over time.
There are likely also some genetic
and environmental factors that,
you know, I won't speak to directly
because that's not my field, but
certainly there is not
one cause.
And I do just want to point out that
the use of
acetaminophen, Tylenol has
plateaued or decreased over the past
20 years. So it would be hard to
explain the
decrease in that with the increase
in autism, if there was a
causal relationship.
Now, as to the
potential cure or
treatment for autism,
the drug Lecovarin.
Leukoborin.
Is that promising?
You know, I think
potentially promising is
a nice way to describe it.
I think right now,
there is not enough scientific
evidence to support it as a
treatment for autism.
Again, I would encourage
any interested families to
talk to their healthcare providers
about whether their specific child
could potentially benefit
from Leukoborin.
There is not enough evidence to
support it as a treatment right now.
Although there are some larger
randomized controlled trials
underway across the country.
Could it cause unrealistic
hope for families?
Yeah, I think when
you put a promise
of a treatment out there before
there's the science to support,
it's not helpful.
And I think it can just add to the
confusion and kind of chaos going
on right now
What should people do, families do
with this information coming from
the federal government right now?
You know,
I think back to what I
said, I would really encourage
families to reach
out to providers that they trust
and listen to their recommendations
because they're basing their
recommendations on science, on
evidence.
And I also wanna say that
it's very harmful
to the autism community.
I think the way that some
people are talking about autism
as something that needs
to be cured or.
Or something that's harmful
to families.
I think autistic people
really add so
much to our society and we
should really be working to identify
ways to better support
them.
Lily Wagner, thanks very much.
It's really, it's really.
It's not good.
Yeah, it's just really
like, we have so many families
calling us crying every day and it's
heartbreaking.
Yeah, lots of moms are not
gonna be able to take care of
themselves during pregnancy because
they feel, you know,
falsely that they're gonna be
hurting their kiddo.
And all the people who
did.