DEBUNKED

Community Note Fact Checks Trump on Cuba Autism Rumor

The X post clarified that Cuba’s autism rates were actually higher than the United States.

A community note corrected President Donald Trump on X after the commander-in-chief peddled false rumors of Cuba’s lower autism rates.

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“There a rumor and I don’t know if it’s so or not—that Cuba, they don’t have Tylenol because they don’t have the money for Tylenol, and they have virtually no autism,” said Trump during Monday’s White House announcement that claimed Tylenol was to blame for autism.

Trump also claimed the Amish population did not have autism for the same reason.

X’s fact-checking feature was quick to correct the statement.

“Cuba had an autism rate of 83.30 per 10,000 children in 2023, according to data from the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network. The US rate was 80.90, the same data shows,” said the note, citing an article from The Times.

The community note is also currently rated as “helpful” by other social media users.

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Community notes operate “to create a better informed world by empowering people on X to collaboratively add context to potentially misleading posts,” according to the official X website.

According to X’s policy, notes are only shown after contributors add notes on posts and if enough contributors “from different points of view rate that note as helpful.”

Tylenol is the brand-name for the generic drug acetaminophen, and while Cuba requires a prescription for Tylenol unlike the U.S., acetaminophen is locally known as paracetamol instead.

The claim of Cuba’s autism rates were just one of many statements hawked by the Trump administration without new evidence. Multiple news outlets, health experts, and even Republican doctors have disagreed with the president and have debunked his claims that Tylenol causes autism when consumed by pregnant women.

Past research on acetaminophen use currently demonstrates that there is no causal link between the drug and autism.

While some studies have seen a correlation between acetaminophen exposure during pregnancy and increased risk of neurodevelopmental disorders like autism, researchers have said it does not prove that the drug has caused those disorders.

Instead, pregnant women are advised to take the drug as needed at the lowest possible doses.

Social media users were quick to slam the president for spreading the false rumor.

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“Trump doesn’t know if Cuba has Tylenol or autism. It took me seconds to learn that Tylenol requires a prescription there but is readily available. And autism is common,” wrote one user.

“Doctor Trump makes medical recommendations on rumors and innuendo. We’ve been here before, and people died unnecessarily,” said another user.

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