Rep. Mason Addresses Tylenol Misinformation, Reckless Pseudoscience from HHS Secretary

SPRINGFIELD, Ill.— State Rep. Joyce Mason, D-Gurnee, is supporting a resolution condemning Trump administration Secretary of Health and Human Services and fringe agitator, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and calling for his ouster; as well as pushing back against the reckless and irresponsible spreading of junk science around Tylenol and pregnancy he has recently pushed.

“As a mother myself, I know firsthand the changes our bodies go through during pregnancy,” Mason said. “Spreading myths about the connection between Tylenol and autism is extremely irresponsible because they leave mothers who believe them without a way to treat pain that often arises during pregnancy because they are frightened by disinformation.” 

Recently, Kennedy sparked renewed outrage and derision by claiming, without facts or evidence, that acetaminophen, also known as Tylenol, causes autism when taken by mothers during pregnancy. Critics immediately pointed out that these claims are cruelly dehumanizing toward those living with autism—as well as promoting falsehoods about legitimate treatments in a way that endangers maternal and fetal health by increasing the risk of miscarriage, preterm birth, and complications due to untreated fever.

Kennedy has long been known as a prominent source of baseless and discredited health and medical disinformation—pushing such junk science conspiracy theories as “vaccines cause autism,” wireless tech causing cancer, raw milk, “chemtrails,” AIDS not being caused by HIV, and accusing the FDA of suppressing advancements in health. 

He rose to prominence by playing on disinformation around the COVID-19 pandemic, suggesting that Dr. Anthony Fauci was engaged in a conspiracy to promote “dangerous” vaccines, that COVID-19 “targets Caucasians and Black people”—a trope associated with baseless theories that Chinese people and ethnic Jews are immune, suggesting that they are in some way responsible.

Mason joins many of her colleagues in saying that Kennedy’s documented history of promoting objective falsehoods and suppressing real medical science make him unqualified to influence a modern healthcare system. 

“We have let Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Trump administration get away with their reckless propaganda for far too long and the results of that have been disastrous,” Mason said. “I am calling for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s immediate resignation because people deserve peace of mind and the chance to make educated decisions about their health, especially when they are carrying a child.”