On Sept. 22, 2025, President Donald Trump blamed Acetaminophen, the main ingredient in the pain relief drug Tylenol, for contributing to the rise in autism diagnoses. Debate and confusion rapidly spread across the media and PRHS students murmured that they knew his statement wasn’t true.
The Trump Administration reported an association between the exposure of the ingredient acetaminophen in utero could lead to diagnosis of autism later.
Scientists confirmed that there is no relationship between Tylenol and Autism, yet there is a link to false media creating misinformation.
As we read news articles, scroll through videos on social media and hear rumors from peers, false news can spread way too easily and correlation between information can create a false idea of causation.
Stanford University conducted a survey in November 2019 to test if high school students check the information they see. The survey found that 96% of high school students failed to consider the credibility of a climate change website. Studies found that 41% of teenagers cannot distinguish between true and fake online health messages, according to Stanford University.
Students are vulnerable to misinformation which explains that spiral of confusion upon hearing President Trump’s announcement.
Junior Aleah Zeron, initially saw the announcement and concluded that science has gotten more efficient at diagnosing autism which is a reason why the rate of autism appears to be going up– it doesn’t have to do with an ingredient in a drug.
“My initial reaction was, ‘that’s not how that works’, because it’s true the autism diagnoses are going up but it’s because we have more information about it, now we can more accurately diagnose it”
Even when politics are involved, fact checking what we hear is important to ensure we are making educated and accurate decisions.
Zeron’s perspective also leads into the idea that many PRHS psychology students have studied: correlation does not equal causation.
“Just because something is happening at the same time as another thing, it doesn’t mean that there is any connection between those things–often if there is a connection, it’s a third variable connecting,” Zeron explains.
She poses the idea that the rise in autism rates may happen at the same time as mothers taking Tylenol during pregnancy but that does not prove that Tylenol is the cause of autism.
NewsGuard reported in 2022, that almost 20% of videos from TikTok search results for major news topics contained false or misleading claims.
Zeron, who understands the importance of double checking information, suggests that students could be more aware of what they say to others and what they hear from different sources.
“I think we can be more responsible about what we’re saying and what we’re telling other people. It’s easier to discern what we see online but when it comes from friends or family it’s harder to find out if it’s not true,” Zeron said.
A growing digital world means that anything can be created whether it is right or wrong. As young adults we can better protect ourselves from false information and make up cause and effect with a few tips.
Kai’s guide to avoiding false information:
