Inside the Crisis at Tylenol

The Journal.

The Wall Street Journal

Daily News, Business News, News

4.2 • 5.3K Ratings

🗓️ 30 September 2025

⏱️ 20 minutes

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Summary

Last week, President Donald Trump warned that acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, is a potential cause of autism. Many medical professionals say the relationship between acetaminophen and autism is inconclusive, and Trump's comments went beyond what his own administration officials recommend. Still, the press conference caused a crisis at the company that makes Tylenol, Kenvue. WSJ’s Peter Loftus on Kenvue CEO Kirk Perry’s attempts to manage the Trump Administration and the new corporate crisis. Jessica Mendoza hosts. Further Listening: - The FDA Commissioner on Vaccines and Public Trust - Why Coke Isn’t Getting Rid of High-Fructose Corn Syrup Sign up for WSJ’s free What’s News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Earlier this month, the head of a big company got a text message.
0:09.8	In the message, there weren't any words, no photos, no gifts, just a link.
0:17.6	Kirk Perry, who is the CEO of Kenview, which makes Tylenol, received a text message that had a link to a substact post that was written by an online health influencer that talked about the purported link between acetaminophen, which is the active ingredient of Tylenau,
0:40.6	and autism.
0:42.5	And who did this text message come from?
0:45.4	It came from a pretty important person, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy,
0:51.7	Jr.
0:52.7	That text message, according to our colleague Peter Loftus, was the moment that the head of the
0:58.1	company that makes Tylenol realized he had a big problem on his hands.
1:03.0	His attempts to convince the Trump administration, including RFK Jr., that Tylenol was safe,
1:08.9	had failed.
1:12.6	Within days, President Trump held a press conference,
1:16.0	where he gave a damning condemnation of the decades-old painkiller,
1:19.6	saying it potentially causes autism.
1:21.7	But with Tylenol, don't take it. Don't take it.
1:25.3	And it threw the company into a whirlwind of chaos.
1:28.0	I think it's fair to call it a crisis over one of its top products and one of the most famous
1:35.8	brands in American industry.
1:41.2	Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business, and power.
1:45.5	I'm Jessica Mendoza. It's Tuesday, September 30th.
1:54.1	Coming up on the show, Inside the Crisis at Tylenol.
2:08.2	Hi, this is Ava from Vanta.
	...

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