Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against the makers of Tylenol on Tuesday, alleging the companies irresponsibly marketed the medicine to pregnant women despite risks to children.
At the center of the lawsuit is the claim that acetaminophen can cause autism and ADHD, an unproven allegation that President Donald Trump and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have promoted aggressively in recent weeks despite strong objections from the medical community.
The lawsuit, filed in Texas state court, alleges longtime Tylenol-maker Johnson & Johnson as well as Kenvue, which has sold the drug since being spun off in 2023, engaged in “deceptive trade practices” by hiding the risks of taking Tylenol while pregnant.
Trump doubled down on the claim in a Monday social media post, warning pregnant women not to use the drug “UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY.”
A co-author of the study cited by the Trump administration in its warnings against Tylenol use by pregnant women has insisted that the drug remains safe for pregnant women and that more research is needed to better understand the correlation between acetaminophen use and autism.
“Johnson & Johnson divested its consumer health business years ago, and all rights and liabilities associated with the sale of its over-the-counter products, including Tylenol (acetaminophen), are owned by Kenvue,” Clare Boyle, a spokesperson for Johnson & Johnson, said in a statement responding to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit accuses Johnson & Johnson of attempting to evade responsibility for its actions by illegally transferring responsibilities to Kenvue, a move that Paxton alleges violated Texas fraud laws.
In a statement, Kenvue maintained that “Acetaminophen is the safest pain reliever option for pregnant women as needed throughout their entire pregnancy,” while advising pregnant women to speak with a doctor before using it, as directed on Tylenol’s product label. The company also vowed to “vigorously defend” itself against the claim’s in Paxton’s lawsuit.
“Nothing is more important to us than the health and safety of the people who use our products,” the company said. “We are deeply concerned by the perpetuation of misinformation on the safety of acetaminophen and the potential impact that could have on the health of American women and children.”
Paxton, who is entrenched in a bitter primary to unseat GOP Sen. John Cornyn, has filed dozens of lawsuits in line with the Trump administration’s agenda in his decade as the top lawyer for Texas.
