Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general, filed a lawsuit against the makers of Tylenol, claiming they deceptively marketed the pain medication to pregnant people despite alleged risks of autism and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children.
Paxton filed the suit on Tuesday in Texas state court against Johnson & Johnson, the creators of Tylenol, and Kenvue, a Johnson & Johnson spinoff company which has sold Tylenol since 2023.
Paxton, who is currently running for US Senate, alleged that both companies violated Texas’s consumer protection laws by not warning buyers. Paxton is also suing Johnson & Johnson for allegedly violating the Texas Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act by “fraudulently transferring liabilities arising from Tylenol” to Kenvue, said the Texas attorney general in a press release.
“Big Pharma betrayed America by profiting off of pain and pushing pills regardless of the risks. These corporations lied for decades, knowingly endangering millions to line their pockets,” said Paxton in a press release.
Texas is the first state to file such a suit after the Trump administration claimed last month that acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, carries a risk of autism, despite no new evidence suggesting that.
The latest suit comes only days after Donald Trump again warned pregnant people not to take the over-the-counter medication unless “absolutely necessary” and that children should not be given Tylenol “for virtually any reason” in comments made on Truth Social.
Tylenol makers have repeatedly defended the pain medication. Kenvue released a statement on Tuesday in response to Paxton’s lawsuit, saying: “Acetaminophen is the safest pain reliever option for pregnant women as needed throughout their entire pregnancy.”
“Without it, women face dangerous choices: suffer through conditions like fever that are potentially harmful to both mom and baby or use riskier alternatives,” the Kenvue statement continued.
In a previous September statement, Kenvue also said that it “strongly disagrees” with assertions that Tylenol may cause autism. “Sound science clearly shows that taking acetaminophen does not cause autism,” the statement said.
Top medical groups have similarly defended the use of Tylenol by pregnant people. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) called the Trump administration’s guidance on Tylenol “irresponsible”.
“Suggestions that acetaminophen use in pregnancy causes autism are not only highly concerning to clinicians but also irresponsible when considering the harmful and confusing message they send to pregnant patients, including those who may need to rely on this beneficial medicine during pregnancy,” said the group in a September statement.
The Republican Texas senator John Cornyn, who is facing a primary challenge from Paxton, criticized the lawsuit.
“Well, it looks like he can’t help himself. He wants to line the pockets of every trial lawyer in the state,” Cornyn said of Paxton. “He ran off all of his professional staff, and now he has to hire trial lawyers ... and they’re some of his biggest supporters.”
Asked if he believed there was a connection between Tylenol and autism, Cornyn said: “Well, I have a JD, which makes me a doctor of jurisprudence, not a medical doctor, not a PhD. So I’ll have to defer to the experts.”
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