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Home » Transcript: Trump, RFK Jr. and Dr. Oz on Autism Rates and Tylenol

Transcript: Trump, RFK Jr. and Dr. Oz on Autism Rates and Tylenol

Read the full transcript of President Trump’s remarks on Autism at a press conference along with members of his administration Robert Kennedy Jr. and Mehmet Oz, September 22, 2025.

Trump Administration Announces Historic Steps to Address Autism Crisis

PRESIDENT TRUMP: So I’ve been waiting for this meeting for 20 years, actually. And it’s not that everything’s 100% understood or known, but I think we’ve made a lot of strides. I wish it was done a long time ago.

Today, we’re delighted to be joined by America’s top medical and public health professionals as we announce historic steps to confront the crisis of autism. Horrible, horrible crisis.

I want to thank the man who brought this issue to the forefront of American politics along with me. And we actually met in my office, is it like 20 years ago, Bobby? It’s probably 20 years ago in New York. I was a developer, as you probably heard, and I always had very strong feelings about autism and how it happened and where it came from. And he and I, I don’t know, the word got out. And I wouldn’t say that people were very understanding of where we were, but it’s turning out that we understood a lot more than a lot of people who studied it, we think. And I say we think because I don’t think they were really letting the public know what they knew.

Thanks as well to the director of the National Institute of Health, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, FDA commissioner, Dr. Marty Makary. These are great people. Administrator of the Centers for Medicine and Medicaid Services, Dr. Mehmet Oz, and acting assistant secretary of HHS, Dr. Dorothy Fink. So thank you all. Thank you, Dorothy, very much.

The Alarming Rise in Autism Rates

The meteoric rise in autism is among the most alarming public health developments in history. There’s never been anything like this. Just a few decades ago, one in 10,000 children had autism. So that’s not a long time. And I’ve always heard, you know, they say a few, but I think it’s a lot less time than that. It used to be one in 20,000, then one in 10,000. And I would say that’s probably 18 years ago. And now it’s one in 31. But in some areas, it’s much worse than that, if you can believe it.

One in 31. And I gave numbers yesterday for boys. It’s one in 12. I was told that’s in California where they have, for some reason, a more severe problem. But whether it’s one in 12 or one in 31, can you imagine? That’s down from one in 20,000, then one in 10,000. And now we’re at the level of one in 12, in some cases, for boys. One in 31 overall.

So since 2000, autism rates have surged by much more than 400%. Instead of attacking those who ask questions, everyone should be grateful for those who are trying to get the answers to this complex situation. And the first day all of these great doctors behind me were there, I told them, “this is what we got to, we have to find out.” Because when you go from 20,000 to 10,000, and then you go to 12, you know there’s something artificial. They’re taking something.

And by the way, I think I can say that there are certain groups of people that don’t take vaccines and don’t take any pills that have no autism. That have no autism. Does that tell you something? That’s currently. Is that a correct statement, by the way?

RFK JR.: There are some studies that suggest that, yeah, with the Amish, for example.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: The Amish, yeah, virtually. I heard none. See, Bobby wants to be very careful with what he says, and he should, but I’m not so careful with what I say. But you have certain groups. The Amish, as an example, they have essentially no autism.

FDA Warning on Acetaminophen Use During Pregnancy

First, effective immediately, the FDA will be notifying physicians that the use of, well, let’s see how we say that. Acetaminophen. Acetaminophen. Is that okay? Which is basically, commonly known as Tylenol. Can be associated with a very increased risk of autism. So taking Tylenol is not good. I’ll say it, it’s not good.

For this reason, they are strongly recommending that women limit Tylenol use during pregnancy unless medically necessary. That’s, for instance, in cases of extremely high fever, that you feel you can’t tough it out, you can’t do it. I guess there’s that. It’s a small number of cases, I think. But if you can’t tough it out, if you can’t do it, that’s what you’re going to have to do. You’ll take a Tylenol, but it’ll be very sparingly. It can be something that’s very dangerous to the woman’s health. In other words, a fever that’s very, very dangerous and ideally a doctor’s decision.

Because I think you shouldn’t take it. And you shouldn’t take it during the entire pregnancy. They may tell you that toward the end of the pregnancy, you shouldn’t take it during the entire. And you shouldn’t give the child the Tylenol every time he goes. He’s born, he goes and has a shot. You shouldn’t give a Tylenol to that child. All pregnant women should talk to their doctors for more information about limiting the use of this medication while pregnant. So ideally, you don’t take it at all. But if you have to, if you can’t tough it out, if there’s a problem, you’re going to end up doing it.

Vaccine Administration and Spacing

The other thing that I can tell you that I’ll say that they will maybe say at a little bit later date. But I think when you go for the shot, you do it over a five-time period. Take it over five times or four times. But you take it in smaller doses. And you spread it out over a period of years.