No link between paracetamol in pregnancy and autism or ADHD in children, review finds

Wide-ranging review finds no convincing connection after Trump said women should ‘fight like hell’ to avoid painkiller

A wide-ranging review into paracetamol use by pregnant women has found no convincing link between the common painkiller and the chances of children being diagnosed with autism and ADHD.

Publication of the work was fast-tracked to provide prospective mothers and their doctors with reliable information after the Trump administration urged pregnant women to avoid paracetamol – also known as acetaminophen or Tylenol – claiming it was contributing to rising rates of autism.

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Farage endangering women by failing to condemn paracetamol claims, says Bridget Phillipson

Labour deputy leader candidate criticises ‘scaremongering’ on autism and says party must be firmer in tackling Reform

Nigel Farage is “endangering women’s health” by failing to condemn Donald Trump’s claims that using paracetamol during pregnancy causes autism, Bridget Phillipson has said.

The education secretary and minister for women said she had used the painkiller throughout her second pregnancy, and she warned that Reform’s connections with medical conspiracy theories including anti-vaccine rhetoric made the party a danger to public health.

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Andy Burnham says Britain needs ‘wholesale change’ as Labour MPs prepare for conference – UK politics live

Manchester mayor urges Keir Starmer to reveal plans to deliver reform but denies he is plotting to replace PM

Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has described Nigel Farage over his comment implying Donald Trump might be right about paracetamol posing a risk to pregnant women. (See 10.23am.)

Dangerous and irresponsible.

This man is a snake oil salesman and it’s time people stopped buying.

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Trump hails Charlie Kirk as ‘a martyr for America’s freedom’ at memorial – US politics live

President’s message that he ‘hates’ his opponents contrasts with Erika Kirk’s forgiveness of the man charged with killing her husband

Donald Trump says he hates his opponents at Charlie Kirk’s memorial

Hundreds of environmentalists gathered in New York City’s Stuyvesant Square Park and a nearby Quaker meeting house on Sunday to rally in support of solar power and other forms of renewable energy. The event was part of a national “day of action” billed Sun Day, founded by veteran environmental activist Bill McKibben and first Earth Day coordinator Denis Hayes.

“It’s so sad to watch the sun going to waste,” McKibben said at a press conference, standing beside environmentalists and their children. “Every single day, energy from heaven going to waste while we drill down to hell for another dose of the stuff that is wrecking this planet.”

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Trump officials reportedly set to tie Tylenol to autism risk

Washington Post says announcement imminent despite guidelines showing drug is safe for pregnant women to take

Donald Trump’s administration is expected to tie pregnant women’s use of the popular medicine known as Tylenol to a risk for autism, contrary to medical guidelines, the Washington Post has reported.

Trump officials on Monday are also expected to announce an effort to explore how the drug leucovorin could purportedly and potentially treat autism, according to the Post report published Sunday, which cited four sources with knowledge of the plans who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the announcement had not been made.

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Autistic people and experts voice alarm at RFK’s ‘terrible’ approach to condition

Health secretary is planning wide-ranging monitoring of autistic people’s health record and cuts to disability services

Autism experts and autistic people are pushing back on Robert F Kennedy’s “terrible” approach to autism as the health secretary plans more expansive monitoring of autistic people’s health records and proposes cuts to disability services.

A huge study on autism proposed by Kennedy will draw upon private medical records from federal and commercial databases, and a new health registry will track autistic Americans, CBS News reported on Monday.

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RFK Jr’s autism study collecting Americans’ private medical records

The National Institutes of Health claims it is fulfilling RFK’s promise to find cause of autism by September

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is collecting the private medical records of many Americans from several different federal and commercial databases to give to researchers for US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr’s new autism study.

With this information being included in the database, the NIH is also reportedly crafting a new registry to track those with autism, per CBS News.

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Debunked myths that vaccines cause autism are increasing stigma

As parents resist vaccines over vague potential harms, advocates call it a case of ‘morals more than science’

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is planning to devote research dollars to the debunked myth that vaccines cause autism – legitimizing stigma not only around vaccines, but around autism itself.

Matthew Shallenberger, father to an 11-year-old autistic son in Tennessee, says this myth is harmful because “it treats autism as some dreadful disease to avoid at all costs.”

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Ex-CDC acting director calls RFK Jr’s false vaccine theories ‘cruel’

Richard Besser criticizes Trump’s health secretary pick, and says falsely linking vaccines to autism is a ‘cruel thing to do’

The former acting director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has criticized Robert F Kennedy Jr’s nomination by Donald Trump as secretary of the country’s health and human services (HHS), calling his false vaccine theories “cruel”.

In a new interview on ABC, Richard Besser, who led the CDC during Barack Obama’s administration, called Kennedy’s push to falsely link vaccines to autism a “cruel thing to do”, adding, “There are things we do for our own health, but there are things we do that are good for ourselves, our families and our communities and vaccination falls into that category.”

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Special educational needs bill in England hits record £10bn a year

National Audit Office report finds no signs of improvement in lives of pupils despite record spending

The bill for special needs education in England has hit £10bn a year, with the number of children and young people entitled to government support in the form of education, health and care plans set to double to 1 million within a decade, a landmark report has found.

The investigation by the National Audit Office (NAO) found that despite record levels of spending there had been no signs of improvement in the lives of children with special educational needs (SEN).

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Badenoch accused of ‘stigmatising’ autism and mental health issues in comments over support – UK politics live

The Tory leadership contender came under fire from a former cabinet colleague over her comments in a foreword to an essay

More than 100 venues are backing Martyn’s law to help protect the public from terror attacks, ahead of the second reading of the terrorism (protection of premises) bill in the House of Commons today.

Parts of the bill are named for Martyn Hett, 29, who was killed along with 21 other people when suicide bomber Salman Abedi attacked the Manchester Arena in 2017 at the close of an Ariana Grande concert.

Certainly I feel this is the beginning of the end of the campaign, although there’s a bit to go still. But, yeah, I can see it’s coming to fruition now, finally.

Martyn’s law is never meant to be punitive or onerous, like some people may suggest; it literally is very proportionate.

It depends on the size of the venue, and it’s obviously in two tiers as well, and the standard tier is actually far less restrictions than the bigger venues, 800-plus, who may have to put more stringent measures in place.

One Home Office adviser said the contract notice was signed off while the immigration minister was … Robert Jenrick himself. They argued that his plans would’ve cost nearly £200 million more, over a shorter, six-year period, and lacked the break clauses that the government has now included. Another Labour official added: “It seems Jenrick has lost his memory as well as all that weight.”

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Valued GP ‘will be forced to leave UK’ after autistic daughter refused visa

London-based doctor Tajwer Siddiqui says Home Office rules are separating him from his wife and Alina, 19

An experienced and highly regarded doctor who is working at a GP surgery in east London says he has no choice but to walk away from his job because the Home Office is separating him from his wife and autistic daughter.

Tajwer Siddiqui says he has found himself in this situation at a time when the number of full-time GPs in the UK is falling.

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Review of gender services has major implications for mental health services

Cass report calls for move away from mainly medical treatment as part of dramatic shift in approach to gender dysphoria

A long-awaited review by consultant paediatrician Hilary Cass into the NHS’s gender services for children calls for a dramatic shift in the type of treatment offered to children and young people with gender dysphoria.

The report proposes that instead of being offered mainly medical treatment, young people referred to NHS gender services should “receive a holistic assessment of their needs to inform an individualised care plan”, meaning that questions of gender identity should be treated alongside other possible mental health concerns.

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UK’s black children ‘face cultural barriers’ in accessing help for autism and ADHD

Campaigner Marsha Martin says ‘there is a lot of stigma within black community’ that prevents issues being discussed

Cultural barriers are preventing black children with autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) from accessing the help they need, the founder of a UK campaign for better support has said.

Hundreds of children with special educational needs (Send) routinely wait for more than a year to get help, as local authorities across England struggle to meet unprecedented need in a dire financial climate. A Guardian investigation last month found more than 20,000 children were waiting longer than the 20-week limit to be issued with an education, health and care plan (EHCP) that details the support they require.

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‘A talented, goofy kid’: family of Ryan Gainer, autistic teen killed by police, speak out

Shooting of 15-year-old ‘beautiful soul’ in California revives scrutiny on law enforcement abuse of youth with disabilities

When Ryan Gainer was diagnosed with autism as a toddler, he was nonverbal, and his family all learned sign language to communicate with him. But after the southern California boy learned how to speak at around age four, he was a “ball of energy” who never stopped talking, his older sister Rachel said.

He loved saying “hi” to neighbors and strangers alike, and as a young teen was known as the student who greeted everyone with a “good morning” and a smile.

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Vulnerable man pleads with UK government to block extradition to US

Diogo Santos Coelho from Portugal faces a 52-year sentence for alleged cybercrime relating to RaidForums site

A vulnerable autistic man is pleading with the UK government to block his extradition to the US on cybercrime charges where he faces a 52-year sentence for alleged offending that began when he was a child.

Diogo Santos Coelho, who has been assessed as at very high risk of suicide, said he had been groomed and exploited online by adults from the age of 14 into committing the alleged crimes, which relate to the website RaidForums.

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is at 988 or chat for support. You can also text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis text line counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

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Neurodiverse women sought for jobs at GCHQ and BAE Systems

Organisations want to recruit more women with autism, dyslexia and ADHD to work in cybersecurity roles

The British spy agency GCHQ and weapons manufacturer BAE Systems have issued an appeal to attract more neurodiverse women to work for them in cybersecurity jobs.

The employers are actively seeking women with autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) for cybersecurity roles to address gaps in their workforces.

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Health staff in England to be trained on learning disability and autism

Mandatory programme named after Oliver McGowan, whose mother led a campaign after his death in 2016

Mandatory training for health and care staff in England to support people with a learning disability and autistic people has been launched following a grieving mother’s four-year campaign.

Paula McGowan’s 18-year-old son, Oliver, who had a mild learning disability and autism, died after doctors “arrogantly” gave him antipsychotic medication despite his family’s warnings that they were unsuitable.

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‘No humanity whatsoever’: pleas for UK to grant visa to autistic Ukrainian boy

Timothy Tymoshenko was sent to Poland because of his distress but does not qualify for Homes for Ukraine scheme

A British man who has turned his Polish castle into a makeshift hotel for Ukrainian refugees has accused the UK government of showing “no humanity whatsoever” for not allowing a severely autistic teenager to come to live with an approved foster carer in Lancashire.

Pleas are mounting for compassion to be shown to Timothy Tymoshenko, 16, who fled the war in Ukraine without his parents. He is living with his 17-year-old brother, Yurii, in what was once a private palace for the prince-bishop of Wrocław in Piotrowice Nyskie, a tiny Polish village near the Czech border.

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‘A lot fell into place’: the adults who discovered they were autistic – after their child was diagnosed

The recorded incidence of autism has increased 787% in 20 years. For many parents, getting help for an autistic child alerted them to their own traits

When John Purnell’s 10-year-old son was diagnosed as autistic, he knew exactly how to respond. “I’ve always been fascinated by research, by detail, by finding out everything there is to find out about something,” he says. “So I did a really deep dive.”

As he pored over academic papers and delved into medical science – including how many autistic people have a propensity and appetite for copious research – an unexpected realisation crept into his mind. “I was reading about the traits of an autistic person, the difficulties they often have in social situations, the need for order and planning: and suddenly I thought: this person they’re describing isn’t just my son – it’s me.”

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