‘It’s really harmful:’ N.S. mother of autistic child reacts to Trump’s Tylenol claims

First at five we hear from Maritimers on whether they're hesitant to take Tylenol after President Donald Trump's claims.

Jessica Lines says navigating her seven-year-old son Emmett’s Autism diagnosis has been a journey filled with highs and lows.

“My son was diagnosed late, so he was six… it was just last October, so it hasn’t quite been 12 months and it feels like ten years have passed,” says Lines.

The mother of two, based in Amherst, N.S., says recent claims by U.S. President Donald Trump that the use of Tylenol in pregnant women could be linked to autism, brought her back to a moment she believes many women have during pregnancy.

“I remember sitting my husband down and saying, ‘I carried him for nine months, this is my fault,’” says Lines.

She believes the president’s comments caused “a lot of unnecessary harm and guilty feelings.”

“It’s really harmful to individuals that have Autism. I think it’s extremely harmful to the parents that have felt a lot of guilt with that initial diagnosis, and it just didn’t do any good. It wasn’t for the better. It kind of just caused a lot of negative feelings and made parents feel bad about something that they should be celebrating, not feeling bad about,” says Lines.

“We’ve come so far on trying to work on inclusiveness in a society, this just felt like we went back to the drawing board, and it just made people feel bad. It didn’t help anything.”

There is “no conclusive evidence” that using acetaminophen as directed during pregnancy causes autism, Health Canada said Tuesday.

Dr. Robyn MacQuarrie, an obstetrician and gynecologist based in Bridgewater, N.S., questioned the U.S. president’s approach to the conversation about women’s health.

“We heard the president say, ‘Tough it out.’ That’s not an approach. Fever is not something to be messed around with in pregnancy. Fever has potential harms to the fetus,” says MacQuarrie.

“It’s unfortunate that we have to provide health care in this day and age with such paucity of data for pregnant people.”

In a statement posted on their website, Autism Nova Scotia says they are standing “firmly with autistic people.”

“In a moment when misinformation can spread quickly and cause real harm, we want to be clear: our programs, guidance, and public messages are grounded in evidence and delivered in partnership with Autistic people and their families. We trust qualified experts and follow the advice of licensed medical and allied health professionals,” the statement reads.

Lines hopes other parents will do their research, and continue to spread light about Autism awareness.

“We should be celebrating and working on the positives, like more supports, more services, shorter wait times, like those are the things we should be celebrating,” she says.

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