Chief Medical Officer Professor Michael Kidd has rebuked US President Donald Trump’s claim that paracetamol use in pregnancy strongly raises the risk of autism among offspring.

Mr Trump said last week his administration was writing to all US doctors warning them not to recommend paracetamol to pregnant women unless they had a fever they could not “tough out”.

US officials cited two main studies for the decision: a 2020 JAMA Psychiatry study of cord plasma paracetamol metabolites and an Environmental Health review of 46 studies that found consistent associations between autism and paracetamol.

The next day, Professor Kidd — the first GP appointed as Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer — issued a joint statement with the TGA saying better studies showed there was no association.