• pyre@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    6
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    2 days ago

    doesn’t it take one pregnancy to prove this wrong? all you need is a mother of an autistic person who didn’t use Tylenol while pregnant.

    • volvoxvsmarla@sopuli.xyz
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      10
      ·
      1 day ago

      Not really. A link doesn’t mean a necessary causation. It doesn’t have to be exclusively caused by tylenol. Skin cancer is linked to excessive sun exposure, but it can occur without it, and likewise, not everyone who is experiencing increased UV exposure gets skin cancer. Not every smoker gets lung cancer, not every lung cancer is caused by smoking (IIRC only 50% of lung cancer patients are smokers - it’s just that not 50% of people are smokers). But a certain risk factor increases the occurence of a disease.

      I guess what you are thinking of would be comparable with FASD, a mother who has a child with fetal alcohol syndrome but never drank any alcohol during pregnancy would disprove the causation. My guess would be that this isn’t what they are going for but a vague “it increases the likelihood of the child developing autism”.

        • volvoxvsmarla@sopuli.xyz
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          1 day ago

          Well, this is the worse scenario. If he goes down the “FASD route” it will be rather easy to debunk. An “increased risk” route will be much vaguer, more believable, and harder to disprove.

          This might also go down the route of “if it wasn’t safe in the womb we should think twice about giving it to my baby who has a high fever” resulting in brain damage and death. (For the record: Fever is good, but high fever in babies is dangerous.)

          This, then, adds up to “I didn’t give my baby tylenol when it had a fever, then it was hospitalized, they gave tylenol after all, now the kid has XYZ, it was the tylenol”.

    • ryper@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      1 day ago

      They might just tell her she did use Tylenol while pregnant, she just forgot/took it without knowing.

      • pyre@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        2 days ago

        what? not at all. your comparison would be appropriate if i said one pregnancy where the mother takes Tylenol but the kid doesn’t have autism