Health secretary hits out at Trump autism claims: ‘Don’t pay attention whatsoever’

The health secretary has it out at Donald Trump’s unproven claims that taking paracetamol whilst pregnant is linked to a rise in autism, urging people not to “pay any attention whatsoever” to him. Appearing on Lorraine on Tuesday (23 September), Wes Streeting stressed that there is “no evidence” to back up the US president’s allegations, citing a 2024 study in Sweden involving 2.4million children that did not uphold the theory. “I would just say to people watching, don’t pay any attention whatsoever about what Donald Trump says about medicine, don’t even take my word for it as a politician. Listen to British doctors, British scientists, the NHS.” He said “we have to follow the evidence”, adding he finds it unbelievable children are dying in 2025 from measles and whooping cough, things he thought had been “confined to the history books”.