Meryl Horn

And so they tried testing whether painkillers, including acetaminophen, acted like phthalates when they put them on cells in a dish.

And they found that, yeah, they kind of did.

Oh, interesting.

And we think phthalates might mess up hormones like testosterone in the body.

And so researchers started looking into this.

And some of them did find that people who took acetaminophen during pregnancy were more likely to have a son with undescended testicles when they were born.

Huh.

Yeah, so some researchers were finding these things, not in every study, but there were these hints that something might be going on here.

And that was the backdrop for this new wave of studies looking at the brain, because we know that hormones can affect brain development.

So if something's messing with the hormones, maybe it could also change how the brain is developing in the fetus.

Okay, that makes sense.

And then studies start coming, looking at whether pregnant people who took acetaminophen were more likely to have a kid with autism.

So like, you know, some of them would get thousands of pregnant moms and ask them some questions.

Yeah, exactly.

Like, they followed these kids and then checked whether they were autistic.

And these studies, they were finding stuff, but it was a little weird.

Like one of these studies found that it upped the chance for autism, but only when the autism was accompanied by hyperactivity symptoms.

Another study found that boys were more likely to be autistic with this exposure to acetaminophen in the womb, but not girls.

Okay.

Kind of confusing.