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.

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[–] 143 points 1 year ago (12 children)

I'm all for it. Let's have discovery, let's shine a light on this stupidity.

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  • [–] 49 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    Exactly. Like Republicans in 2020 wouldn’t bring any election denial claims to court cause the had no actual evidence

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    But they did bring them to courts. There were over 60 lawsuits and only successfully proved something like 20 fraudulent ballots, in one audit, across all of them. Nearly all of them were thrown out due to a lack of evidence. Pretty sure these are the things that got Rudy disbarred.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    There’s always fraudulent ballots, though, and from my understanding, they are always looked into. That stuff is unrelated to the conspiracy theory stuff his team of “lawyers” were pushing out. They would claim things in the media and then never bring them up in court.

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  • [–] 30 points 1 year ago

    These folks never change their views after a court case disproves something. They just assume some sort of deep state is in bed with “big pharma” - even if acetaminophen is a low cost and not a big money maker.

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  • [–] 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    You have a lot of faith in a jury system that has historically been terrible at evaluating scientific claims.

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    [–] 119 points 1 year ago (8 children)

    It is hard to believe this is not an onion article. "We just made this up and now we are suing you for not warning people about the shit we just made up".

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  • [–] 25 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    I can't wait for all these bullshit cases to get in front of judges. Some of them already have, and are getting tossed. The media should be covering it much heavier.

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  • [–] 19 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    The media is fully captured by hard right idealogues.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    America is fanous for suing everyone and everything for a reason.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    Yes, but no. Justice is expensive in the US. The legal system HATES pro se litigants (people that represent themselves), making it harder for them to get paperwork through the courts.

    Those who do have "big money" lawsuits will get represented by ambulance chasing law firms.

    People yell about Medicare for all, but the US really needs constitutionally guaranteed legal representation.

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  • [–] 229 points 1 year ago (24 children)

    Are fucking insane? How on earth do they expect to actually win this lawsuit?

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  • [–] 186 points 1 year ago (9 children)

    They don't. It's part flood the zone, part pandering to certain voters. Look what we do for you! A blue state wouldn't fight for your health like this!

    Nothing will come of it but it's a positive distraction from the extraction of wealth that is currently happening.

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  • [–] 29 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    It's also a very obvious distraction from

    THE EPSTEIN FILES

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    It is a distraction from the hostile fascist takeover of our country. The Epstein shit is a distraction from that.

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  • Fascism is a systemic issue. It's a cancer that takes roots when democracy starts failing.

    Having the concrete and unsystemic problem of there being probable cause Trump did some very, very bad things looked into properly is a much smaller ask.

    However, even that's an imposibility in today's world.

    I'd love to have a magic cure for fascism. There is one, although it's undoubtedly very unmagic: Painstakingly dealing with obvious lies and crimes, one at a time. Respecting the Constitution. Having people be truly equal. Especially in the eyes of the law.

    Without a thourough dose of said cure, fascism will hide away and get ready to rise back up.

    The Epstein shit is one step of a bajillion mile journey. It's not the first and it's not the last. But without it, there's no journey to be had.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Well maybe something will come from it, it might inspire laws that make it harder to sue pharma.

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  • [–] 50 points 1 year ago* (3 children)

    People have tried in the past and each time it got thrown out because the judges ruled they were full of shit. As recently as 2023, even, from Reuters:

    Cote, in a 148-page ruling, found that none of the five expert witnesses proposed by the plaintiffs had offered a sound scientific methodology to support their opinion that Tylenol's active ingredient, acetaminophen, could cause autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

    "Instead, the unstructured approach adopted by the plaintiffs' experts permitted cherry-picking, allowed a results-driven analysis, and obscured the complexities, inconsistencies, and weaknesses in the underlying data," she wrote.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Wait, so this "Tylenol cause autism" thing existed prior to this year?

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    It was around in 2022, at least in this iteration, when they consolidated a bunch of cases. The mommy wellness blog machine kicked off hard. Retailers like Walmart were sued too, because people are fucking dumb as rocks.

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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    By convincing a jury of normal Americans they're right.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    They could request a bench trial. No jury, just the judge.

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  • [–] 75 points 1 year ago (6 children)

    I’m not a lawyer but shouldn’t J&J be suing the Federal Government for making utterly unsubstantiated claims in an official announcement?

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  • [–] 21 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    I think they’re waiting for the damages to really rack up. Then they can sue the taxpayer for billions and nobody can stop them.

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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    We could put on a really big tinfoil hat and say that this is all a plan to funnel billions of taxpayer dollars to J&J by way of crafting an airtight lawsuit for them to win and get awarded an absolutely massive payout.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

    this is all a plan to funnel billions of taxpayer dollars to J&J by way of crafting an airtight lawsuit for them to win and get awarded an absolutely massive payout.

    Not too big of a hat. When J&J had cyanide laced Tylenol capsules come out of a production facility in Illinois in the 80s, not only did they lie to media about cyanide not being in the plant, the FBI repeated the lie and then Ronald Reagan gave a medal to the CEO to help convince Americans it was safe to take this drug, which is well known to cause liver damage.

    Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders, is on Netflix.

    At the time, FBI and Government told everyone the tainted drugs were from a lone nut who put cyanide in the bottles. After those deaths, all drugs have safety seals to this day.

    But a second poisoning came from caplets sealed at the factory and prescribed in a hospital. Only then was it revealed that cyanide was present in the plant, used to calibrate QC instruments. What is incredible is that within a few years, Tylenol sales were stronger than ever in the US. The rest of world curbed use of this drug because of liver toxicity.

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    [–] 32 points 1 year ago* (3 children)

    Hillbilly Tyrannical Fascist Government

    VS

    Monopolistic Corrupt Big Pharma Corporation

    Who would win?


    Stay tuned!

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  • [–] 16 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Pharma. Regardless of who's involved, being able to sue somebody based on made up bullshit is not a good precedent

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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago

    Yes, but when was the last time these guys cared about "precedent"? I agree in thinking Pharma wins, but only because money. One CEO visit to the Whitehouse and some brown nosing and Trump will start saying how they're "good people".

    We have always been at war with Eastasia.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    Generally the courts side with industry and money, but this time they're being asked to choose between that and MAGA, the latter of which has been dominating in courts lately. I am not sure on this one. Kenvue isn't that big, it's not part of a behemoth like J&J anymore, I'm not sure that one company has the gravitas to avoid being run over.

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  • [–] 62 points 1 year ago

    I hope somebody documents every penny Texas wastes on this frivolous crap.

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  • [+] 29 points 1 year ago (1 child)
  • [–] 28 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    Johnson and Johnson is a huge, multinational pharma company with more money than God. They aren't going to be intimidated or extorted by this dumbass governor.

    This case will get tossed in the discovery phase when the judge asks for scientific evidence and all the governor can provide are these whoo-whoo dipsh*t theories.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago

    They're being sneaky.

    As attorney general, Paxton has a different avenue into court than an individual trying to prove that Tylenol caused their child’s autism. While those lawsuits focus on personal injury claims, this suit hinges on two state consumer protection laws, the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act and the Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

    “That overlaps a lot with the science and with the argument that is going on about Tylenol right now, but it’s ultimately a different burden of proof and different damages that we’re going to be seeking,” Keller said.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago*

    SpongeBob: "One Day Later"

    WASHINGTON ‒ Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on Oct. 29 that he does not have "sufficient" evidence to link Tylenol to autism, more than a month after the White House discouraged the medicine's use by pregnant women and young children.

    Evidence does not show that Kenvue's pain medicine Tylenol definitively causes autism but that it should still be used cautiously, President Donald Trump's top health official told reporters. Last month, the president said U.S. health officials would recommend limiting Tylenol's use.

    "The causative association… between Tylenol given in pregnancy and the perinatal periods is not sufficient to say it definitely causes autism. But it is very suggestive," Kennedy told reporters, citing animal, blood and observational studies.

    https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/10/29/health-chief-insufficient-data-tylenol-causes-autism/86972118007/

    Well, THAT should make Discovery a whole lot easier. How does the underside of that bus taste, Abbot? Lol.

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  • [–] 56 points 1 year ago (1 child)
  • [–] 52 points 1 year ago

    This is what happens when you put conspiracy theorists into office: You get them suing or attacking organisations for things that aren't real.

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  • [–] 25 points 1 year ago

    Johnson & Johnson should just say "Our bad. We'll stop selling all our products in your state!"

    Then sit back & watch the fallout

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  • [–] 44 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    I hope they bankrupt the fucking state of Texas. Someone should sue him for wasting taxpayer money. Toss-up on whether I feel bad enough for progressive &/or sensible Texans to care how those two thoughts play-out.

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  • [–] 21 points 1 year ago (20 children)

    Tylenol is basically paracetamol, right? It's a generic drug. Why are they suing a specific brand?

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Same exact drug, just branding.

    It's because our batshit crazy administration decided to wage war against that particular brand, I suspect they refused to donate their million dollars to the pres' slush-fund.

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  • [–] 9 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    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.

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  • [–] -3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    they did the research and safety testing on it

    You're missing the largest air quotes of the year here.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    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.

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  • [–] 21 points 1 year ago* (1 child)

    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.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (1 child)

    Which is incredible since they had cyanide contaminated capsules come from their manufacturing facility that killed seven people, and this drug is a major cause of liver failure. Most countries avoid it. and yet, no difference in autism rates.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago

    The cyanide thing was a single person covering the murder of their spouse by contaminating a bunch of Tylenol at the same drug store. And that happened decades ago. It’s why there are so many “tamper evident” seals now.

    Unless this actually happened recently and I just never heard about it.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (6 children)

    It's acetaminophen That's the name of the drug it contains

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  • [–] 14 points 1 year ago (4 children)
  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    AFAIK paracetamol and Tylenol are both brand names for acetaminophen.

    Though if this is incorrect that's cool.

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  • [–] 21 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Yes it is, paracetamol and acetominophen are alternative names for the molecule N-acetyl-para-aminophenol.
    Tylenol, Panadol, Doliprane etc. are brand names.

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  • [–] 21 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    Is there any science proving this? Could I sue "Buckley's Cough Syrup" because of my gut feeling that they caused my toenail fungus?

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  • [–] 10 points 1 year ago

    Short answer no. Also correlation is not causation Let's say child autism is correlated with infection at a certain age then it could be the infection and not the thing you took for the infection.

    They are dumb fucks who cannot read studies. Remember COVID?

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  • [–] 19 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    God I hope texas eats a big old pharma dick on this one. I feel like they're just anti women at this point.

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  • [–] 17 points 1 year ago*

    So glad I left that shithole state. Tired of Ken "Securities Fraud" Paxton wasting my tax dollars on frivolous bullshit like this.

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