Bonus Episode: Tylenol & Autism Link (Dr. Zorba's Rapid Response)

Dr. Zorba Paster responds to The White House press release with links to scientific studies claiming that the use of acetaminophen (Tylenol), during pregnancy causes autism.

(Recorded October 2, 2025)

Dr. Paster on CNN Newsroom with Paula Newton talking about doctors navigating partisan divides, and the politicization of healthcare. 

Watch interview: https://youtu.be/8OxtG5X9UJs

Transcript

Karl: 0:03

Hey folks, thanks for listening to our podcast. Thank you. Thanks a lot. Uh, we just want to try something new here, and we're gonna do this periodically. This is a rapid response episode, a little bonus episode from Dr. Zorba.

Zorba: 0:15

Right. Things come up suddenly. You hear about it in the news. Breaking news. And our goal is breaking news, a response based on science. I am scientifically based, and it doesn't matter if you're left or right, red or blue or green or yellow, it doesn't make a difference. Science is science.

Karl: 0:32

There you go. All right, I'll just set this up real quick and let you go, Zorba. So recently the White House issued a press release with links to scientific studies claiming that the use of acetaminophen, Tylenol, during pregnancy causes autism. What are your thoughts on this, Zorba?

Zorba: 0:46

It does not cause autism. So let me give you let me give you some background on why Tylenol, acetaminophen is important. First of all, it is a safe drug to use during pregnancy. Period. If you decide to use aspirin, you may bleed and lose the baby. If you decide to use ibuprofen, you may bleed and lose the baby. In other words, those drugs are not safe. What's a woman to do if she has a headache? Right? Right. What's a woman to do if she has body aches, if she has discomfort? What is she supposed to do? The reality is that's really important. It is a very important drug. So let's talk about this supposed studies about autism. They are not good science. There's good signs and bad signs. But believe it or not, there's a lot of good science that's looking at this. Here's what's going on with autism. Autism, from a definition, has become broader and broader and broader over the last two decades. So what we used to say is a child has some learning problems, they are now labeled as autistic. And there are, and now we label children who are really autistic as really autistic. There's a whole spread here. So part of the increase in autism, probably the major part, is the fact that doctors, teachers, and everyone is looking for it, and the definition has changed. And lo and behold, there's some people who are out there, movie stars, and they say, no, we read the studies, we looked at that. There is no good scientific study. So even though the politicians have said that, who do you want to get your health care for? A doctor, a nurse practitioner, a PA, or a politician? Let me ask you, when was the last time you called up your representative, your senator, and you said, treat my problems? The answer is you don't. So if you have a question about this, you should go to your health care provider. That's it. And who do you trust? Well, you better go to a healthcare provider that you trust and ask about it. And I can promise you that 95% of the doctors, the nurses, and the PAs in this country who treat pregnant women, if not more, are going to say there is no scientifically based evidence that uh that acetaminophen under the name Tylenol is actually connected to autism. This is noise in the system, and it's very important for you to be able to read things and understand and take action.

Karl: 3:03

It seems like there's a lot more noise in the system. Well, there's a lot more noise in this system than ever before.

Zorba: 3:07

And there's a lot more noise in the system. And part of this has to affect up social media. Why? Because people like to have the social media. They like to do social media and say, hey, I got 100,000 people following me, I got a million people following me, I've got a hundred million people following me, and people like that. Why? Hey, it's human nature. It's like the fact that more people are looking at you. And the thing about autism and acetaminophen is it's not true. And we have to look at things that are true when it comes to pregnancy. And women have to be able to treat their pain and their discomfort during pregnancy with the right and the safest drug. Now, are there side effects? Every time you take a drug, it has side effects. And if you want to know what the side effects are, you can look it up. You can look it up online from a reputable site like Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins, Cleveland Clinic, University of Wisconsin. Look it up and do that. It's important to do your research, but you've got to do your research with scientifically based things because, frankly, folks, science wins over politics.

Karl: 4:08

Important stuff. And it's great to be able to do these quick, rapid response episodes now and then when we have, you know, very timely health topics.

Zorba: 4:15

Absolutely, absolutely. I hope that people will come to me because look, first of all, I've been a doctor for 45 years. I've seen things come and go. Science changes. We explain things and then we make decisions. We decide things are not good because that's what science is it's observation and changing. Number two, I've been doing, you know, I've been on public radio for about 35 years, answering questions and stuff. So I've got I've got my doctor practice, I've got my science practice. I also happen to cure, I happen to mentor medical students, University of Wisconsin. I'm an adjunct professor. I know the alternative side. I happen to be one of the main physicians for His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. So I'm very, very familiar with what we call complementary medicine. And even a I read a lot about neuropathic medicine. So I I know I can separate out the chafe. Uh essentially, I can sift and went out and chefed out, sift out the chaff from the weeds.

Karl: 5:08

I can s I couldn't say it either. It's hard to say.

Zorba: 5:11

I can separate out the chaff from the weeds because I've been doing that for so long, because I am old and I've seen things come and go. And let me tell you, any woman who is pregnant can safely take Tylenol. Period. Good luck.

Karl: 5:27

And if you want to hear more from Zorba, Zorba, you were just actually last night on CNN talking about health literacy and the politicization of the healthcare system.

Zorba: 5:37

And the stuff that's going on. It's a great interview. Very interesting. We'll put a link up on our website.

Karl: 5:43

Exactly. Drzorba.org.

Zorba: 5:45

That was on CNN, and I hope to do more of them in the near future.

Karl: 5:48

Thanks a lot for listening and stay well.