We’re glad Dr. Jack McConnell isn’t around to hear the medical expert in the White House say that the use of Tylenol during pregnancy could be linked to autism in children and urged pregnant women not to take it for pain.
McConnell, who died in 2018, is the former Chattanoogan who directed the development of the acetaminophen-based pain reliever at McNeil Laboratories in the 1950s. He also helped direct the development of the TB tine tests used in the detection of tuberculosis, participated in early stages of the development of the polio vaccine, helped develop the MRI and started the free health clinic Volunteers in Medicine that now has an office in Chattanooga.
In an interview with the Times Free Press in 2001, he said his Methodist pastor father would ask him and his seven siblings daily, “And what did you do for someone today?”
“No one needed to have an answer every day,” said McConnell, who attended Normal Park Elementary School. “It was just something that was part of the culture of our family. When we did announce it, or in response to the question, everyone applauded. We saw it as a genuine contribution to the community, to the church, to ourselves.”
Despite years of studies that suggested the drug was safe for pregnant women, President Donald Trump on Monday said the federal Food and Drug Administration would begin advising physicians that it is “strongly recommending that women limit Tylenol use during pregnancy unless medically necessary” and that all acetaminophen labels would be updated with the warning.