When U.S. President Donald Trump and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. promoted unsupported warnings last fall about acetaminophen use in pregnancy, Canadian doctors began fielding worried questions from patients and colleagues about whether the common pain and fever medication was safe.
A new practice paper … says the latest, highest-quality evidence is reassuring for pregnant people who need acetaminophen, also known as paracetamol and sold under the brand name Tylenol, when it is used as directed.
The episode is a high-profile example of why so-called null findings — studies that find no link or no difference — matter. Often known as the “file drawer problem,” these findings can sit unpublished or overlooked because they may seem like scientific dead ends. …
Trump’s messaging on acetaminophen “created an unnecessary public health crisis around what women can take safely during pregnancy,” said Dr. Kamran Abbasi, editor-in-chief of the British Medical Journal.
“The research that refutes that frankly false statement does not get the same amplification or the same publicity that disinformation did, so I think it’s a big problem, unfortunately,” Abbasi said.
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