#tylenol

#tylenol

Americans are receiving medical guidance from President Trump and top health officials like Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that runs counter to mainstream medicine. For example, this week Trump linked Tylenol to autism despite little medical evidence. How are Americans meant to make important decisions about their health at this confusing moment?

Kenvue, the company behind the household brand, at least has a playbook to turn to for guidance. That's because Tylenol's original owner, Johnson & Johnson, developed it decades ago after seven people in the Chicago area died from taking its capsules because someone had laced them with potassium cyanide. The 1982 unsolved mystery became known as the " Tylenol murders." J&J's handling of the incident not only saved the brand - and protected consumers from future tragedy - but also set the gold standard for crisis management that is still taught in business schools.

Getty Images US President Donald Trump has claimed there is a link between the use of painkiller Tylenol by pregnant women and an increased risk of autism in some children. Going against current scientific advice and medical opinion, he said the drug, known as paracetamol in many countries, "is no good" and women should "fight like hell" to only take it in extreme cases, such as for high fevers.