Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing Johnson and Johnson, accusing the pharmaceutical company of failing to warn consumers about the risk of taking Tylenol while pregnant.
This lawsuit, the first of its kind from a state government, comes a month after President Donald Trump and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. announced updated guidance discouraging pregnant women from taking acetaminophen, citing it as a possible cause of autism. The announcement set off a wave of controversy in the health care community, and confusion among pregnant women unsure how they should manage fever and pain during pregnancy.
Tylenol is basically paracetamol, right? It’s a generic drug. Why are they suing a specific brand?
I think Tylenol must have a total monopoly on paracetamol sales in that country, as they never refer to it by its non-brand name. Going for the specific brand would be the same as suing every manufacturer.
There absolutely is generic paracetamol, but we often colloquially use the word “tylenol” the same way y’all use “hoover.” It’s technically a brand, but we aren’t always referring to the brand - it’s just another noun sometimes.
In the case of RFK, I can’t explain if it was intentional to name the brand or if it’s simply one more thing he hasn’t applied that much critical thought to before speaking about.
Its called acetaminophen in the states, and there are generics available at every store. Basically each store has a cheaper version of it available under their own branding.
Likely they are targeting the maker of Tylenol because they did the research and safety testing on it, and all the other stuff is based on that. I’m not a scientist though thats just a guess.
You’re missing the largest air quotes of the year here.
It’s acetaminophen That’s the name of the drug it contains
AKA: paracetamol
AFAIK paracetamol and Tylenol are both brand names for acetaminophen.
Though if this is incorrect that’s cool.
Yes it is, paracetamol and acetominophen are alternative names for the molecule N-acetyl-para-aminophenol.
Tylenol, Panadol, Doliprane etc. are brand names.
TIL.
Guess what they call acetominophen in the UK?