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https://apnews.com/article/texas-tylenol-autism-texas-rfk-trump-3b39d3ac55b3b766b44c8fb03bad8b5e
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Tuesday accused the companies behind Tylenol of deceptively marketing the pain reliever to pregnant mothers in a lawsuit that asserted unproven claims that early exposure to acetaminophen increased risk of autism and other disorders.
Paxton, an ally of President Donald Trump and a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, announced the suit against Johnson & Johnson and Kenvue weeks after Trump and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. asserted an unproven link between the pain reliever and autism while announcing a wide-ranging effort to study the causes of the complex brain disorder.
The suit alleges that the companies violated Texas consumer protection laws by hiding the danger that acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, posed to fetuses and young children and “deceptively marketed Tylenol as the only safe painkiller for pregnant women.”
It also alleges that Johnson & Johnson fraudulently transferred liabilities arising from Tylenol to Kenvue to shield assets against lawsuits.
In 2021, New Brunswick, New Jersey-based J&J announced that it would turn its consumer health business, which makes Tylenol and other products, into a separate company now known as Kenvue. It referenced that divestment in a statement Tuesday, saying “all rights and liabilities associated with the sale of its over-the-counter products, including Tylenol (acetaminophen), are owned by Kenvue.”
“Big Pharma betrayed America by profiting off of pain and pushing pills regardless of the risks. These corporations lied for decades, knowingly endangering millions to line their pockets,” Paxton said in a statement. “Additionally, seeing that the day of reckoning was coming, Johnson & Johnson attempted to escape responsibility by illegally offloading their liability onto a different company.”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Tuesday accused the companies behind Tylenol of deceptively marketing the pain reliever to pregnant mothers in a lawsuit that asserted unproven claims that early exposure to acetaminophen increased risk of autism and other disorders.
Paxton, an ally of President Donald Trump and a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, announced the suit against Johnson & Johnson and Kenvue weeks after Trump and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. asserted an unproven link between the pain reliever and autism while announcing a wide-ranging effort to study the causes of the complex brain disorder.
The suit alleges that the companies violated Texas consumer protection laws by hiding the danger that acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, posed to fetuses and young children and “deceptively marketed Tylenol as the only safe painkiller for pregnant women.”
It also alleges that Johnson & Johnson fraudulently transferred liabilities arising from Tylenol to Kenvue to shield assets against lawsuits.
In 2021, New Brunswick, New Jersey-based J&J announced that it would turn its consumer health business, which makes Tylenol and other products, into a separate company now known as Kenvue. It referenced that divestment in a statement Tuesday, saying “all rights and liabilities associated with the sale of its over-the-counter products, including Tylenol (acetaminophen), are owned by Kenvue.”
“Big Pharma betrayed America by profiting off of pain and pushing pills regardless of the risks. These corporations lied for decades, knowingly endangering millions to line their pockets,” Paxton said in a statement. “Additionally, seeing that the day of reckoning was coming, Johnson & Johnson attempted to escape responsibility by illegally offloading their liability onto a different company.”
