Obama says Trump’s Tylenol announcement was ‘violence against the truth’
Former President Barack Obama speaks during an event in Chicago on December 5
By Arlette Saenz, David Wright, CNN
(CNN) — Former President Barack Obama on Wednesday said the Trump administration engaged in “violence against the truth” with its announcements this week linking autism and Tylenol.
“We have the spectacle of my successor in the Oval Office making broad claims around certain drugs and autism that have been continuously disproved,” Obama said during remarks at London’s O2 Arena, according to a transcript provided to CNN by the former president’s office.
“The degree to which that undermines public health, the degree to which that can do harm to women who are pregnant, the degree to which that creates anxiety for parents who do have children who are autistic, which by the way itself is subject to a spectrum, and a lot of what is being trumpeted as these massive increases actually have to do with a broadening of the criteria across that spectrum, so that people can actually get services and help,” Obama added. “All of that is violence against the truth.”
At a White House press conference Monday, President Donald Trump announced that the US Food and Drug Administration will notify doctors that the use of Tylenol during pregnancy can be associated with a “very increased risk of autism,” drawing immediate pushback from doctors in the US and abroad. Trump promoted a range of unproven theories about autism, Tylenol and vaccines, going beyond his administration’s plans to highlight a cautious new warning on Tylenol, $50 million investment in further autism research and approval of a potential treatment.
Obama said Wednesday that “it is important for those who believe in the truth and believe in science, to also examine truth when it is inconvenient for us.”
Obama also said the country is being “tested” by threats against free speech and the rule of law but called it a “clarifying moment” of what Americans should stand for.
“It’s fair to say that what I see repeatedly in my own country in the loss of leadership in promoting values like democracy and rule of law and free speech, and economic fairness, the fact that not only do we not promote them, but we actively oppose those values now, in many cases, it’s fair to say I find appalling. I don’t feel good about it,” Obama said.
“I think we got complacent and smug and comfortable posturing that we believed in all these values because they were never tested. And now they’re being tested,” he said. “It’s easy to believe in free speech when everybody kind of agrees with it. It’s much harder when the people next to you seem just terrible and are promoting ideas that feel like they’re inciting violence towards you.”
The comments reflect the Democratic former president’s increasingly outspoken posture. Throughout a series of public appearances this year, Obama has amped up his criticism of Trump’s second term and expressed concern about the state of American politics.
During stops at colleges and community centers, he’s called the Trump administration’s crackdown on universities and law firms “unimaginable,” and warned that the US is “dangerously close” to a more autocratic government.
And earlier this month, Obama commented on the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, calling it a “horrific tragedy” and saying that “the central premise of our democratic system is that we have to be able to disagree and have sometimes really contentious debates without resort to violence.”
The-CNN-Wire
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