Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) promoted anti-Tylenol conspiracies on Newsmax, prompting an economist to question whether the top GOP lawmaker was "really this stupid."
Johnson followed President Donald Trump and Heath and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr.'s announcement that linked autism not just to the drug acetaminophen, but the company Tylenol specifically. Trump made unsubstantiated claims that Tylenol can cause autism in children if taken by pregnant women.
Neither Trump nor Kennedy has released scientific evidence supporting the claim.
Tylenol manufacturer Kenvue released a statement Monday saying that it “strongly disagrees” with the links between acetaminophen and autism. They indicated they were “deeply concerned about the health risks and confusion this poses for expecting mothers and parents.”
Trump's government will now send out letters to doctors and put a label on Tylenol warning pregnant women.
Johnson went further with his comments, saying, "In 56 years of tracking Tylenol ... there have been 39,540 deaths reported to [the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System]. That's 706 per year. For Ivermectin -- remember the one that they said was so dangerous? In 29 years of reporting, 493 deaths, 17 a year."
Johnson claimed, "Those are just the facts."
Dean Baker, the senior economist at the Center for Economic & Policy Research, asked, "Can Ron Johnson really be this stupid? Hundreds of millions of people take Tylenol every year. How many people in this country take ivermectin? You know very few people die from Russian Roulette; in the Ron Johnson world, that means it's very safe."