Tylenol might not be as safe as we think it is, especially for children and pregnant women, says a report on GreenMedinfo.Acetaminophen significantlychanges brain chemistry and temporarily damages awareness of social issues in adult humans.

According to an extensive Israeli study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology and quoted on the Times of Israel, mothers who continuously use acetaminophen during their pregnancy face an increased risk of the newborn suffering from autism or ADHD. The research determined that long term use of the medication during pregnancy is linked with a 30 percent increase in relative risk for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and a 20% increase in relative risk for autistic spectrum disorder (ASD), compared with those who did not take acetaminophen during pregnancy.

On the contrary,a good number of reports also exist which claim that acetaminophen, is safe to be taken during childhood and pregnancy. Even highly reputable watchdog organizations such as the National Health Service of the UK and the Center for Accountability in Science have supported this stance and rejected a 2016 studypublished in the International Journal of Epidemiology, which linked ADHD and autism with the use of acetaminophen during pregnancy.

These new researches which support the intake of acetaminophen during pregnancy however, may need to be reexamined to verify the authenticity of the expert sources quoted in them. To truly qualify as an expert source on the issue, the expert in question would have to have studied the impact of this drug on young brains and pregnant women.  

However, most of the so-called experts quoted in these articles have not conducted any research on the issue and only base their stance on the fact that they have been prescribing the medication for years. Thearticle argues that merely prescribing a medication for anextensive number of years without actually studying its impact on the brain does not make one an expert on the issue, they instead suggest several scientific researches conducted over the years, which have revealed the potential harmful effects of this medication on the brain.

• A study conducted on mice and rats revealed that the use of acetaminophen at brain development stages might cause changes in the brain which could be later manifested as problems with social function.
• Another study by Margaret McCarthy, Chair of Pharmacology at the University of Maryland, also showed the male brain to besignificantly more sensitive to acetaminophen than the female brain, which could account for the gender bias in autism.
• The article further made reference to the findings of eight studies which investigated the power of acetaminophen use during pregnancy or during childhood. They all revealed that the medication, used in those conditions, could cause longstandingcomplications with neurological function
• Many scientists who have claimed to test the safety of acetaminophen in children failed to evaluate the impact on the brain especially on a long term basis. All previous tests focused more on finding the acute side effects of the drug.

Conclusion

Barely prescribing medicine for several years would not make spontaneously make one an expert on the drug. Watchdog organizations such as the NHS and FDA have to conduct deep research to study the unknown influences of these drugs on the human brain. In the meantime, it falls on consumers to protect themselves by avoiding these medications in childhood or pregnancy until the government provide conclusive empirical findings.