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Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian


** ‘A Fire Hose of Misstatements’
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“It was just misstatement of fact after misstatement of fact. It was a fire hose of misstatements.” That’s how Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia pediatrician and vaccine expert Dr. Paul Offit described the White House’s Sept. 22 press conference about autism to CNN.

The American Academy of Pediatrics said the event was “filled with dangerous claims and misleading information that sends a confusing message to parents and expecting parents and does a disservice to autistic individuals.”

Four of our staffers wrote two stories about the false and problematic claims from the president and other executive branch officials.

There was the headline news: President Donald Trump’s announcement that taking Tylenol, or acetaminophen, “during pregnancy can be associated with a very increased risk of autism.” But as Staff Writer Kate Yandell writes, the medication has not been established to cause autism, and some research indicates it likely doesn’t.

Trump told pregnant women “don’t take Tylenol” around a dozen times and said they should “tough it out” instead, wrongly adding, “There’s no downside to doing this.” There are limited treatments available for pregnant people experiencing pain or fever, which can be harmful to both mother and child.

Despite Trump’s rhetoric, the new recommendations from the Department of Health and Human Services are in line with what expert groups have long said: Use acetaminophen in pregnancy in consultation with a doctor and in moderation. (HHS said that doctors should prescribe “the lowest effective dose for the shortest duration when treatment is required.”)

Trump, along with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., went beyond the Tylenol topic to put forth a host of inaccuracies about autism and vaccines. Staffers Jessica McDonald, Lori Robertson and Robert Farley wrote about nine claims, including Trump's misleading comparison of old estimates of autism prevalence with recent figures and Kennedy's dismissal of the idea that increased awareness and broader definitions of autism explain much of the higher observed rate today.

The president also urged parents to “break up” the MMR, or measles, mumps and rubella, vaccine and vaccinate their children with the shots individually, falsely claiming that it was safer. There’s no evidence to support that, and the individual shots are not even available for use in the U.S.

For more, read: “Trump Administration’s Problematic Claims on Tylenol and Autism ([link removed]) ” and “Repeated Falsehoods at Autism Press Conference ([link removed]) .”
HOW WE KNOW
There’s no vaccination rate data on the Amish community overall, but research that surveyed parents in Amish communities in 2011 and 2017 found 85% or 98% had vaccinated some of their children. And autism does exist in the Amish community. A 2010 conference paper estimated a rate of about 1 in 271 children. We highlighted ([link removed]) those sources when Trump wrongly said the Amish “don’t take vaccines” and have “essentially no autism.”
FEATURED FACTS
According to Global Energy Monitor, China ranks first in the world for operating wind farm capacity with about 44% of the global total. That's nearly triple the capacity of the U.S., which ranks second. China also ranks first in the number of operating wind farms (31.5% of the world’s total), followed by Germany, France and then the U.S. Read more: “Trump Misleads on Climate Change and Renewables at U.N. ([link removed]) ”
SOCIAL MEDIA POST OF THE WEEK

In his address before the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 23, Trump repeated his claim that since January, he has “ended” seven wars. We’ve been addressing repeat claims in social media videos, like the one below in which we refer to our August story on this issue ([link removed]) .

As we said then, international relations experts say the president did play a role in ending fighting in four conflicts (though one country disagrees). But some of these disputes haven’t been wars, and some clashes aren’t over.

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** Wrapping Up
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Y lo que publicamos en español ([link removed]) (English versions are accessible in each story):
* Las problemáticas afirmaciones de la administración Trump sobre el Tylenol y el autismo ([link removed])
En una conferencia de prensa del 22 de septiembre que publicitó como “uno de los anuncios [médicos] más importantes (…) en la historia de nuestro país”, el presidente Donald Trump pregonó sobre una relación no comprobada entre el autismo y el uso de Tylenol, o acetaminofén, durante el embarazo.

* Las falsedades que se repitieron en la conferencia de prensa sobre autismo ([link removed])
En una conferencia de prensa de una hora de duración sobre el autismo, el presidente Donald Trump y el secretario de Salud y Servicios Humanos, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. realizaron múltiples afirmaciones falsas y engañosas sobre el autismo y las vacunas, muchas de las cuales ya hemos verificado anteriormente.

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