Health Secretary Wes Streeting has urged the public not to pay “any attention whatsoever” to Donald Trump’s claims of finding a link between taking paracetamol in pregnancy and autism.

Mr Trump claimed there had been a “meteoric rise” in cases of autism when mothers take Tylenol, which is known as paracetamol in the UK.

The US President also urged Americans not to take painkillers during pregnancy, instead suggesting mothers should “tough it out”.

However, Mr Streeting this morning criticised Mr Trump over his comments, suggesting Britons should trust the National Health Service over the White House.

“I trust doctors over President Trump, frankly, on this,” the Health Secretary told ITV.

He added: “I’ve just got to be really clear about this: there is no evidence to link the use of paracetamol by pregnant women to autism in their children. None.

“In fact, a major study was done back in 2024 in Sweden, involving 2.4 million children, and it did not uphold those claims.

“So I would just say to people watching, don’t pay any attention whatsoever to what Donald Trump says about medicine.

“In fact, don’t take even take my word for it, as a politician – listen to British doctors, British scientists, the NHS.”

The NHS’s official website also states that “paracetamol is the first choice of painkiller if you’re pregnant”.

“It’s commonly taken during pregnancy and does not harm your baby,” it added.

Scientists across the world have also warned that Mr Trump’s comments risk “stigmatising families who have autistic children as having brought it on themselves”.

There are also concerns that Mr Trump’s alleged “fearmongering” will prevent women from accessing appropriate health care during pregnancy.

The National Autistic Society also voiced its alarm at Mr Trump and US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.

“The incessant misinformation about autism from President Trump and Robert F Kennedy Jr risks undermining decades of research by respected experts in the field,” said Mel Merritt, the charity’s head of policy and campaigns.

“Understandably, autistic people will be dismayed and frightened by this announcement, and we would urge our government and the NHS to stand by autistic people and to condemn this misinformation. To do otherwise risks creating further fear, stigmatisation and harm.

“We urge anyone looking for information about autism to visit websites from trusted organisations such as the NHS and the National Autistic Society.”

Meanwhile, the Green Party compared Mr Trump’s comments to Margaret Atwood’s best-selling book, The Handmaid’s Tale.

Rachel Millward, co-deputy leader of the Green Party, warned: “Donald Trump’s America seems to be witnessing the unfolding of the terrifying fiction, the Handmaid’s Tale.

“Trump has suggested women in pain during pregnancy should avoid using paracetamol based on a bogus and fear-mongering claim that using it will lead to autism in their children.

“The Trump administration has also ordered a review of all grants for research involving what they decry as ‘woke’ keywords – which includes the word ‘women’.

“We should all feel worried by this blatant misogyny, because where Donald Trump leads, Nigel Farage tends to follow.”

However, there has been a significant rise in the number of new autism diagnoses in the UK over the past few decades.

Britain witnessed an eight-fold increase between 1998 and 2018, a study by the Clinical Practice Research Database has revealed.

Research conducted in Sweden also found no evidence to suggest a link between autism and paracetamol.

The study covered 2.5 million children born in the Scandinavian nation between 1995 and 2019.

Swedish experts found that around 1.42 per cent of children exposed to acetaminophen during pregnancy were autistic, compared to 1.33 per cent of children who were not exposed ─ a “very small” difference.

A separate study, published earlier this year, said “misclassification and other biases may partially explain” the small increased risk of autism linked to acetaminophen.