Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reportedly plans to announce later this month that a common over-the-counter pain medication has a possible link to autism.

A Department of Health and Human Services report will list Tylenol taken during pregnancy as potentially linked to autism, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing unnamed sources. 

The report is also expected to suggest that a medicine derived from folate can treat symptoms of the developmental disorder in some people.

Tylenol is a widely used pain reliever with acetaminophen as its active ingredient. Tylenol is made by a New Jersey-based conglomerate, Kenvue. Its stock dropped nearly 15 percent shortly after the Journal report but it started to rebound later in the session.

The company says acetaminophen is one of the most studied medications in history and the Food and Drug Administration and leading medical organizations have agreed on the safety of its use during pregnancy.

“Nothing is more important to us than the health and safety of the people who use our products. We have continuously evaluated the science and continue to believe there is no causal link between acetaminophen use during pregnancy and autism,” Kenvue said in a statement to The New York Sun. 

“We advise expecting mothers to speak to their healthcare professionals before taking any over-the-counter medications, including acetaminophen, as they are best positioned to advise their patients on whether taking acetaminophen is appropriate based on their unique medical conditions,” the statement said.

The company notes that in April 2024, one of the most robust studies to date was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. It found, “Acetaminophen use during pregnancy was not associated with children’s risk of autism, ADHD, or intellectual disability in sibling control analysis.”

But researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai announced last month that prenatal exposure to acetaminophen may potentially increase the risk of neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism spectrum disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, in children.

The lead author, Diddier Prada, cautioned that the study does not show that acetaminophen directly causes neurodevelopmental disorders.

“Pregnant women should not stop taking medication without consulting their doctors,” Dr. Prada said. “Untreated pain or fever can also harm the baby. Our study highlights the importance of discussing the safest approach with health care providers and considering non-drug options whenever possible.”

Scientists have been working for decades to try to find what factors might contribute to autism. Mr. Kennedy has long blamed vaccines. He once claimed there was a link between the condition and a preservative that is used in vaccines. He later claimed MMR shots caused a spike in autism cases.

During his confirmation hearing, Mr. Kennedy would not say that vaccines do not cause autism.

Mr. Kennedy says that autism cases in the United States are rising at an alarming rate, increasing to 1 in 31 cases in 8-year-olds from 1 in 36 two years ago. He says the chances of a boy in America developing autism is now 1 in 20. California, which he says has the best data collection program, has a rate of 1 in 12.5 boys.

Mr. Kennedy made a bold claim at a Cabinet meeting earlier this year that he would uncover the cause of the autism epidemic in America in just a few months.

“By September we will know what has caused the autism epidemic and we will be able to eliminate those exposures,” Mr. Kennedy said in front of President Trump.

A week later he clarified his statement. “We will have some of the answers by September,” Mr. Kennedy said.

“We are using gold-standard science to get to the bottom of America’s unprecedented rise in autism rates. Until we release the final report, any claims about its contents are nothing more than speculation,” a representative of the Department of Health and Human Services said in an emailed statement to the Sun.