Barack Obama has said Donald Trump’s unfounded claims that paracetamol causes autism are an ‘attack on truth’.
The US president said on Monday, citing no evidence, that Tylenol, the American brand name of paracetamol, is ‘no good’.
He added that pregnant people should ‘fight like hell’ to only take it in cases of extreme fever, despite it being basic medical advice to do so.
Speaking tonight at the O2 in London, Obama said: ‘My successor is pushing certain theories about drugs and autism that have been continuously disproven and undermine public health.
‘The degree to which that can harm women who are pregnant, and the degree to which that creates anxiety for parents who do have children who are autistic – itself is subject to a spectrum – and a lot of what is being trumpeted as massive increases actually has to do with a broadening of the criteria for the spectrum so that people can actually get services and help.
‘All of that is violence against the truth.’
When first walking into the arena packed with cheering people, which included the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, Obama said: ‘No need to remind you that it’s one of the greatest cities in the world.’
The former president earlier told broadcaster David Olusoga that the US is at a ‘fork in the road’ following the killing of Charlie Kirk.
Within seconds of speaking, however, Obama’s mic cut off.
Once plugged back in, he said: ‘In the United States right now, what’s ascendant, and my successor has not been particularly shy about it, is the desire to go back to a very particular way of thinking about America, where “we, the people” means just some people, not all people.
‘Where there are some pretty clear hierarchies in terms of status and who ranks.’
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Describing it as a view that Vladimir Putin ‘very much believes’, Obama said that the US is straying far from the ‘equality’ it was founded on.
He added: ‘The challenge we face is not just to fight against these creeping authoritarian tendencies, but it’s also to be reflective about, “how is it that we lost support for that earlier vision, that better story?”‘
On X last week, Obama posted: ‘Freedom of speech is at the heart of democracy and must be defended, whether the speaker is Charlie Kirk or Jimmy Kimmel, MAGA supporters or MAGA opponents.’
He added said the Trump administration had taken cancel culture to ‘new and dangerous levels’.
On Friday, Obama will be interviewed by Irish journalist and author Fintan O’Toole at Dublin’s 3Arena.
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