Nigel Farage has refused to side with medical experts over Donald Trump in a row over whether it is safe to take paracetamol while pregnant.
The President said earlier this week that doctors in the US will soon be advised not to prescribe the painkiller to pregnant woman, claiming it is linked to autism in their children.
Scientists including Dr Alison Cave, the chief safety officer at UK medical regulator the MHRA, have said there is no evidence linking the two.
The NHS recommends paracetamol as the ‘first-choice painkiller’ for pregnant women, though the advice is to use it ‘at the lowest dose and for the shortest duration’.
Dr Cave said: ‘Our advice on medicines in pregnancy is based on rigorous assessment of the best available scientific evidence.
‘Any new evidence that could affect our recommendations would be carefully evaluated by our independent scientific experts.
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‘Untreated pain and fever can pose risks to the unborn baby, so it is important to manage these symptoms with the recommended treatment.’
In an appearance on LBC this morning, Farage was asked by host Nick Ferrari if Trump was correct to link paracetamol use by pregnant women and autism.
He replied: ‘I have no idea … you know, we were told thalidomide was a very safe drug and it wasn’t. Who knows, Nick, I don’t know.’
Pressed on whether he would back medical experts over the US President, the Reform leader said: ‘I wouldn’t, when it comes to science, I don’t side with anybody.
‘I don’t side with anybody, you know, because, because science is never settled, and we should remember that.’
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the comments showed Farage has ‘no idea and no backbone’.
He wrote in a post on X: ‘This is a man whose health adviser claimed at Reform’s Conference that the Covid vaccine gave the Royal Family cancer.
‘Anti-science, anti-reason, anti-NHS. Farage is the snake oil salesman of British politics and it’s time to stop buying his rubbish.’
Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Helen Morgan said: ‘It seems Farage would rather see pregnant women suffer in pain than stand up to his idol Donald Trump.’
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