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The President of the United States, Donald Trump, sparked controversy once again after stating that the lack of autism in Cuba could be related to the shortage of medications such as Tylenol. In a recent speech, the president said:
"There is a rumor, and I don't know if it's true or not, that in Cuba they don't have Tylenol because they don't have money to buy Tylenol, and they practically don't have autism. OK, tell me something about that," said the leader in his speech from the White House.
Trump used this statement to suggest a possible link between the use of paracetamol (the active ingredient in Tylenol) and the increase in cases of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the United States, although he did not provide any scientific evidence or cite reliable sources to support his claims.
Tylenol, mentioned by Trump, is the brand name of a medication whose active ingredient is paracetamol—known as acetaminophen in the United States—a common analgesic and antipyretic used to treat fever and mild pain.
Although some studies have explored potential associations between prenatal exposure to paracetamol and the development of neurodevelopmental disorders, there is currently no conclusive scientific evidence linking it directly to autism.
Medical authorities such as the FDA and WHO do not recognize that relationship as causal, and the scientific community considers attributing that effect to be, at best, speculative.
The statement has provoked immediate reactions among health experts, media outlets, and social media users, who have deemed the comment as irresponsible and unfounded.
What do the real data say?
According to the most recent official report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the U.S., published in 2023, the prevalence of autism in 8-year-old children in 2020 was 27.6 per 1,000 children, which translates to one in every 36 minors.
This figure represents an increase compared to previous years and also shows disparities among ethnic groups: Black, Hispanic, and Asian children had higher diagnosis rates than white children, according to previous studies.
Regarding Cuba, there are no recent official data or published national epidemiological studies that accurately document the prevalence of autism on the island. The country is also not part of international monitoring networks such as the CDC's ADDM Network.
However, this does not mean that autism does not exist in Cuba. Organizations of parents, testimonies from professionals, and local clinical studies confirm the presence of cases, although their documentation may be limited due to a lack of diagnostic resources and public statistics.
Experts have explained that attributing the prevalence of autism to the use of medications like Tylenol lacks scientific support. While potential environmental and genetic factors have been studied, there is no consensus directly linking acetaminophen to the development of ASD.
Trump's words, far from providing clarity to the debate on children's health, add to a long list of controversial statements that trivialize complex and sensitive medical issues.
After the viral spread of the video, users on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) added a "contextual notice" to the clip, citing a supposed fact checking published by The Times stating that Cuba had an autism rate of 83.3 per 10,000 children in 2023, which is slightly higher than that of the United States (80.9).
However, this data does not appear in official CDC reports or in the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network (ADDM), the cited source. The most recent official figure from the CDC for the United States is 276 per 10,000 children (27.6 per thousand) in 2020. In the case of Cuba, there are no publicly verifiable figures that support or refute the claim.
The shortage of medications in Cuba
Beyond Trump's controversial statements, the reality is that Cuba faces a chronic shortage of basic medicines, which directly impacts the population.
Pain relievers as common as aspirin or paracetamol are frequently in short supply at the state-run pharmacies, forcing Cubans to rely on donations from abroad, the informal market, or natural alternatives promoted by the regime itself.
In recent months, the government has announced plans to produce the aspirin needed by the island in China, a move that highlights the inability of the national pharmaceutical industry to provide a commonly used medication.
The state-run press, meanwhile, has attempted to “rescue” products like noni or promote homemade syrups and medicinal plants as substitutes in light of the shortage of essential medicines.
The Minister of Public Health, José Ángel Portal Miranda, has publicly admitted that there are not enough medicines or resources to meet the needs of patients, which has exacerbated the collapse of the healthcare system.
This shortage not only affects those with chronic illnesses, but also pediatric care, obstetric care, and hospital emergency treatments.
The shortage in Cuba is not a rumor or an anecdote, but a structural problem that exacerbates the country's health crisis and forces thousands of families to survive without access to basic medicines that are considered essential in most parts of the world.
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