Medical experts debunk Trump's autism-paracetamol link
Global News Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 8.3K Ratings
🗓️ 23 September 2025
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Medical experts have condemned President Trump's unsubstantiated claims that taking paracetamol during pregnancy can lead to an increased risk of autism in children. The links between the painkiller and autism remain unproven. Also: France becomes the latest country to recognise Palestinian statehood while Israel continues its war in Gaza, Jimmy Kimmel is set to return to TV screens, Denmark extends military conscription to women, Super Typhoon Ragasa lashes the Philippines, a multibillion dollar deal in the AI race, and who's won football's Ballon d'Or?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.5 | This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:12.2 | I'm Chris Ferro and at 5GMT on Tuesday the 23rd of September, these are our main stories. |
| 0:19.0 | Medical experts debunk President Trump's claims about |
| 0:21.7 | taking paracetamol during pregnancy causing autism. France becomes the latest Western country |
| 0:26.8 | to recognize Palestinian statehood, and the late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel is set to return |
| 0:32.0 | after a highly criticized suspension. Also in this podcast. |
| 0:38.7 | We talk a lot about being equal here in Denmark. |
| 0:42.0 | So, yeah, I think it's a pretty good idea. |
| 0:44.6 | But being forced to go to the military, |
| 0:47.0 | I don't think it's good for anybody to be forced to do anything in the world. |
| 0:51.0 | Denmark extends conscription to women. |
| 0:53.4 | And who's won the Ballondeur football's top individual award. |
| 1:01.3 | We begin in Washington, where President Trump has given what he called a very important and amazing announcement about tackling autism. |
| 1:09.8 | In an impassioned address address and without providing scientific evidence, |
| 1:13.4 | the US President claimed that taking the common painkiller paracetamol, |
| 1:17.1 | also known as Tylenol during pregnancy, |
| 1:19.5 | could lead to an increased risk of autism in children. |
| 1:22.4 | Taking Tylenol is not good. |
| 1:25.4 | I'll say it. It's not good. |
| 1:27.1 | For this reason, they are strongly recommending that women limit Tylenol use during pregnancy unless medically necessary. For instance, in cases of extremely high fever, if you can't tough it out, if you can't do it, that's what you're going to have to do. |
| 1:44.9 | You'll take at Tylenol, but it'll be very sparingly. |
... |
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