“There are two studies that show children who are circumcised early have double the rate of autism – it’s highly likely because they were given Tylenol,” said U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary John F. Kennedy Jr. during a Thursday cabinet meeting.
This follows Kennedy and President Donald Trump’s press conference in late September urging pregnant people not to take Tylenol. They said taking the common over-the-counter pain reliever (also known by the generic names acetaminophen and paracetamol) is linked to babies developing autism.
Multiple experts spoke to Audacy about that claim after the press conference and noted that more research is needed to back it up. Likewise, experts are cautious about linking circumcision and autism.
Circumcision is a surgical removal of skin that covers the tip of the penis called foreskin to mainly prevent infections. It has been a longstanding practice in some cultures and it is a religious practice in the Jewish and Islamic faiths, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.
In the U.S. newborn circumcision is not required but it is often performed on newborn babies. Since the procedure is painful, babies are often given local anesthetic. Afterwards, the area can be sensitive for a few days.
While Kennedy did not specifically name the two studies he referenced, MedPage Today and Scientific American both said he was likely referring to a to a 2013 study of eight countries and a 2015 study from Denmark. Research methods and findings from those studies have been called into question.
Helen Tager-Flusberg, an autism researcher and a professor emerita at Boston University, even called the methods “appalling,” per Scientific American.
Authors of the 2015 study that found those who were circumcised were 46% more likely to develop autism spectrum disorder (ASD) before age 10 in its cohort of children born between 1994 and 2003 noted that, although they found a link between circumcision and autism, “we had no data available on analgesics or possible local anesthetics used during ritual circumcisions in our cohort, so we were unable to address the paracetamol hypothesis directly.” They also acknowledged other weaknesses.
“That study is riddled with flaws, which others have written about,” said psychologist David S. Mandell in a statement sent to Scientific American on behalf of the Coalition of Autism Scientists. Flaws mentioned by the outlet include a small sample size and not accounting for circumcisions that were not performed by doctors.
It also said: “The association between circumcision and autism was only significant for those aged 0 to 4 years old, not those aged 5 to 9 years old, which suggests there may be an alternative explanation for the results.”
As for the 2013 study, MedPage Today said it was an ecological study published in BMC Environmental Health “that used circumcision rates as a proxy for early neonatal exposure to acetaminophen.” However, “experts say that circumcision rates are not a reliable stand-in for acetaminophen use in babies,” according to Scientific American.
Last month, a new study by researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health revealed that neonatal male circumcision (NMC) rates in the U.S. had declined nearly 5% from 2012 to 2022 (65.3% to 60%). That was after the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a statement in favor of the practice.
“Evaluation of current evidence indicates that the health benefits of newborn male circumcision outweigh the risks and that the procedure’s benefits justify access to this procedure for families who choose it,” the AAP said. “Specific benefits identified included prevention of urinary tract infections, penile cancer, and transmission of some sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.”
Among the factors listed by the researchers as reasons for the drop include changing demographics in the U.S. and parental distrust of medical advice.
“Despite overwhelming evidence that neonatal male circumcisions provide health benefits, increasing public skepticism in the United States toward medical recommendations may be driving more parents to choose not to have their sons get circumcised,” said Dr. Aaron Tobian, professor of pathology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Just this week, Audacy reported on new data from the Kaiser Family Foundation that shows public trust in the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention has slipped even further since the start of Kennedy’s tenure leading the HHS.
Regarding circumcision and acetaminophen’s role in autism, Mel Merritt, head of policy and campaigns at the National Autistic Society in the U.K., released this statement Friday: “More dangerous anti-science from the U.S.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, now linking autism with circumcision. This is not based on any form of rigorous, robust research and could put lives at risk. This incessant focus on pseudo-scientific causes of autism means autistic people are forced to listen to the suggestion that they need to be cured, as though it’s not ok to be autistic and someone should be ‘blamed’. This is wrong and dangerous.”
Last year, another study even found that “circumcision appears to confer benefits in children with ASD, including improvements in behavioral symptoms and urinary function.” Authors of the study said further research is needed to validate the findings.
According to the CDC, autism is a term that covers a broad range of developmental disabilities caused by differences in individuals’ brains and data does show that the prevalence of autism diagnoses in the U.S. increased from one in 150 in 2000 to one in 31 in 2022. Christine Ladd-Acosta, vice director of the Wendy Klag Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said this increase can be mostly attributed to a broadening of the Autism Spectrum Disorder definition and increased screening.
Kennedy and Trump stress that increase in autism cases is something that needs to be addressed. Trump said during the Thursday cabinet meeting that they have been discussing the issue for at least 20 years, even before his first term in office, and he indicated that children in the U.S. might be required to get too many vaccines.
“All of it is stuff we should be paying attention to,” said Kennedy.