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Oct. 12, 2025, 5:05 AM EDTBy Andrew GreifIt’s a distressing time to be a team once considered a preseason Super Bowl contender. Reigning champion Philadelphia has lost two straight after Thursday’s blowout loss to the Giants. The Baltimore Ravens are 1-4 and star quarterback Lamar Jackson is hurt. The Kansas City Chiefs have their game-breaking quarterback healthy, but are 2-3, having suffered more losses already than all of last season. Buffalo’s 13-game home winning streak was just snapped in a surprise upset. Since Green Bay began talking of going undefeated at 2-0, the Packers have lost one game and tied another. Cincinnati? Don’t even ask.The Detroit Lions seemed to be headed toward trouble, too. In Week 1, playing with brand-new defensive and offensive coordinators, an offense that led the league in scoring in 2024 mustered only 13 points in a loss to division-rival Green Bay. As many of the NFL’s favorites have wilted over the past month, though, the Lions have quietly built one of the best cases for Super Bowl contention by winning four straight and scoring 34 or more points in every win. Even after wunderkind offensive coordinator Ben Johnson left to coach Chicago, the Lions have scored 174 points, the most in franchise history through five games. And despite coordinator Aaron Glenn leaving to coach the Jets, the defense ranks in the top three in sacks, pressures, quarterback hits and forced fumbles. Oddsmakers at DraftKings now peg the Lions’ as the favorite to win the NFC, and have given them the second-best odds to win the Super Bowl, behind only Buffalo. Parity and drama across the league have drawn attention elsewhere. Seven teams are 4-1, including Indiana, Jacksonville and San Francisco, which missed the playoffs last season. Twenty-five games have come down to a score in the final three minutes of regulation or overtime, most in NFL history through Week 5, per NBC Sports research. Meanwhile, the Lions keep ripping off wins.”That core group is still intact,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “I think the most important thing is you’ve got your culture, you’ve got your identity and you’ve got players that fit into that, and we’ve got that. “We’ve got players in every pivotal position you can ask for to have success. And those guys are made the right way, so absolutely, our window is open.”Skepticism about Detroit (4-1) taking advantage of that title window is expected after it earned the NFC’s top playoff seed last season, setting franchise records for points (564) and tying an NFL record for games with 40-plus points (six) along the way, only to instantly underwhelm in the postseason by losing its playoff opener to Washington, at home.This season, just like last, injuries have begun to chip away at the Lions’ depth and potential. Three starter-level defensive backs could miss a significant amount of time after recent injuries, Campbell said this week. A shoulder injury sidelined left tackle Taylor Decker last week, and that missing protector on quarterback Jared Goff’s blind side contributed to Goff being sacked four times, after taking zero sacks the previous three weeks combined. Yet pass rusher Aidan Hutchinson, whose leg injury last season was one of the most devastating to Detroit’s defense, is back, and is again playing like a candidate for defensive player of the year. His team-high five sacks tie for third-most in the league. “It’s good to have him back, period,” Campbell said. “My gosh … we missed him last year.” There were questions about how Goff would fare playing for the first time in his career without an offense directed by either Sean McVay or Johnson, both considered two of the league’s most creative at calling offenses. Johnson, who reveled in mixing in hook-and-ladders, trick plays and throws to offensive linemen, was particularly flashy. His successor, John Morton, 56, had been an offensive coordinator in the NFL just one other season in his career prior this season. But critically, he had previously coached in Detroit in 2022 and overlapped with Goff then in a different role.“I’ve said it a million times, the fact that we were together at one point and have a relationship prior to him being my coordinator is extremely important and allows us to kind of speak freely to each other,” Goff said last month.Goff has thrown for a league-high 12 touchdowns and completed a league-best 75.2 percent of his passes — only the second player in NFL history, behind Peyton Manning in 2013, to put up stats like that through five games. (Manning would go on to win MVP that season, and lead Denver to a Super Bowl.)Morton compared the Lions to a Raiders team he coached on that went to a Super Bowl. “We had the best offense in the league” filled with “Hall of Famers,” Morton said this month when asked to compare Detroit’s options. “That’s really the only thing that comes to mind, really. But these weapons (here), we can do whatever we want.”And in a league where the expected contenders have rarely been able to do as they please, it has made Detroit’s start notable.What we’re watching for in Week 6Broncos (3-2) vs. Jets (0-5): In London, the aforementioned Glenn has yet to win as a head coach, and is facing a Broncos team with a league-leading 21 sacks. New York has started 0-6 only twice in its history.Cardinals (2-3) at Colts (4-1): Arizona has been snake-bitten, losing three straight games on game-winning field goals in the final seconds. The Colts haven’t turned the ball over in four games.Chargers (3-2) at Dolphins (1-4): Justin Herbert threw four interceptions last season but has three in his last three games. Miami has won one of its last 15 games against opponents with winning records.Seahawks (3-2) at Jaguars (4-1): Jacksonville is the best in the league at forcing turnovers (14), while Seattle is the best road team (eight consecutive wins). Patriots (3-2) at Saints (1-4): If Stefon Diggs collects 100-plus receiving yards for a third straight game this week, he’ll be the first Patriots receiver to do that since Wes Welker in 2012. Browns (1-4) at Steelers (3-1): Under coach Mike Tomlin, Pittsburgh is 14-1 when facing a rookie quarterback at home, per NBC Sports research. Another good omen: Pittsburgh has won eight straight games coming off a bye week.Cowboys (2-2-1) at Panthers (2-3): Dak Prescott needs 150 passing yards to pass Troy Aikman for the second-most passing yards in team history, and a win would move him past Tony Romo into third all-time in franchise history for wins.Rams (3-2) at Ravens (1-4): Baltimore’s defense will have to tighten after allowing 35-plus points in each of their last four games. The Ravens have allowed a league-high 13 passing touchdowns.Titans (1-4) at Raiders (1-4): No team has completed a lower percentage of its passes this year than the Titans (51.8 percent). Bengals (2-3) at Packers (2-1-1): Green Bay is one of two teams (Buffalo) whose defense has yet to allow a big play of 40-plus yards. And it has allowed a league-low six plays of 20-plus yards. Cincinnati is starting QB Joe Flacco after trading for him this week.49ers (4-1) at Buccaneers (4-1): Tampa rookie wideout Emeka Egbuka ranks fourth with 445 receiving yards and his average of 17.8 yards per catch ranks fourth among qualified receivers.Lions (4-1) at Chiefs (3-2): If Patrick Mahomes throws for one touchdown Sunday, he’ll become the fastest quarterback to reach 300 for a career, beating Aaron Rodgers by eight games. Bills (4-1) at Falcons (2-2) on Monday: Bijan Robinson’s 146 scrimmage yards per game lead the NFL. Buffalo’s Josh Allen has a turnover in each of his last two games after zero turnovers in his previous eight games.Bears (2-2) at Commanders (3-2) on Monday: Chicago has won its last two games but, historically, is 1-9 coming off a bye since 2015.Andrew GreifAndrew Greif is a sports reporter for NBC News Digital. 

- Latest News - October 12, 2025

As many of the NFL’s favorites have wilted over the past month, the Detroit Lions have quietly built one of the best resumes, winning four straight and scoring 34 or.

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Oct. 12, 2025, 6:00 AM EDTBy Jon-David RegisNatalie Silva, a high school senior in Massachusetts, wants to play soccer in college, but she is still recovering from a right knee injury during a game over a year ago.Silva remembers colliding with an opposing player. As she fell, she heard her knee “pop” when her cleats got stuck in the turf on a field where her Uxbridge High School team was playing an away game.“I was playing on an indoor field where the turf is on top of concrete. If it was grass, there would’ve been more cushion,” claims Silva, 18, who goes to school about 50 miles southwest of Boston. She said she met with her doctor, who was concerned that her cleats were made for playing on grass, not turf. “The turf 100% played a role in my injury,” Silva said.The multibillion-dollar artificial turf industry has convinced local governments and school boards that turf fields are a way to save money and increase playing time for young people. As hundreds of synthetic fields and playgrounds are installed at schools, colleges, and public parks in the U.S. every year, stakeholders from lawmakers to school boards and soccer moms are debating claims like Silva’s about the safety of playing on such surfaces.Boston and Westport, Connecticut, have effectively banned turf that contains rubber from recycled tires due to concerns about exposure to chemicals. Vermont has passed restrictions, and in California, a reversal of a previous decision now allows local communities to impose bans. Groups like the NFL Players Association, and physical therapists and other clinicians believe playing on turf increases the risk of torn ligaments, sprained ankles, and other injuries.A study of NFL data released in 2024 found higher incidences of lower-extremity injuries on artificial turf than on natural grass. The odds of a serious injury requiring season-ending surgery were significantly higher, the study said. “ACL and ankle sprains are the main injuries we see from turf,” said HIDEF Physical Therapy founder Zach Smith, who works with athletes in Seattle as they recover from turf-related injuries.“The turf provides better grip and more friction,” he said. “Great for performance, but bad for joints.”Safety debate mountsArtificial turf — first widely introduced in the 1960s at the former domed stadium of Major League Baseball’s Houston Astros — is made from plastics to mimic the look of grass. It typically contains tiny black pellets called “crumb rubber,” processed using shredded tires.By 2020, there were 13,000 synthetic turf sports fields in the U.S., with about 1,500 installed annually, according to the National Recreation and Park Association. Nowadays, young people who participate in sports, from football to field hockey and lacrosse to soccer, are less likely to play on natural grass than on artificial turf, also called synthetic grass, synthetic turf, or astroturf.Python Park, a 12-acre playing field in Avondale Estates, Georgia, belongs to the Paideia School. Paideia is changing its fields from grass to turf. Sam Whitehead / KFF Health NewsThe Synthetic Turf Council, a leading industry trade group, did not return calls and emails to answer questions about chemical hazards and injuries. But the industry has pointed to research showing no definitive link between artificial turf and health problems, including sports injuries.Manufacturers support their product.“Artificial turf lets kids play safely on a lush, mud-free surface all year long,” said Adam Grossman, chief executive of Southern Turf Co., headquartered in Austin, Texas.“No fertilizers, pesticides, or watering required,” said Grossman, adding that his company’s products are “nontoxic.”Brad Blastick, president of Lazy Grass Co. in Alpharetta, Georgia, said his company’s products feature “built-in cushioning, helping to reduce injuries and keep kids active and safe.”In a January letter to protest a Santa Clara County, California, proposal to ban artificial turf, the president and CEO of the Synthetic Turf Council, Melanie Taylor, said “forever chemicals are ubiquitous in today’s environment, including water, air, soil, and a variety of food products.”Synthetic turf does not contain more than what’s in other parts of the environment, and it helps communities across the country save money, Taylor said in the letter. “Motions to ban synthetic turf hinder communities’ ability to access these benefits [and] should be reconsidered,” she wrote.Long-term consequencesCritics of turf dispute the industry’s claims, including those about safety.The pellets of crumb rubber in turf contain toxic chemicals like petroleum compounds, metals, and lead, according to Stuart Shalat, former director of the Division of Environmental Health at Georgia State University.“When fields heat up, they can release fumes or transfer chemicals to skin,” said Shalat, who is now retired. “And we don’t yet fully understand the long-term effects, especially for children.”The Paideia School, a K-12 private school in Atlanta, is switching from grass to turf at Python Park, its off-campus location in Avondale Estates that has two soccer fields and a diamond for baseball and softball.Janet Metzger, a self-described environmentalist who lives near Python Park, said she tried to persuade the school to cancel the project because she is worried about the impact on nature.“When there’s natural grass, you have insects and life in the soil that keep the area vibrant,” Metzger said. “Turf kills the environment and harms all the species that live there.”The Paideia School declined an interview request to answer questions about why it is installing turf.In instituting their restriction on turf fields, government officials in California and Vermont said they were worried about PFAS, which are known as “forever chemicals,” and other hazardous materials that can be inhaled or absorbed through the skin. A 2024 federal Environmental Protection Agency report on the crumb rubber in turf found that chemicals associated with tire crumb rubber were in the air, on surfaces, and on the skin of study participants but concluded there were no elevated levels in their bodies. EPA researchers, however, said their study was not designed to assess health risks associated with crumb rubber.Meanwhile, the U.S. Consumer Protection Agency has issued recommendations for limiting exposure to crumb rubber recycled tire materials used in playground surfaces, encouraging people to wash their hands and other exposed skin after leaving playgrounds with these surfaces, and to avoid eating and drinking while there.This year is shaping up to become one of the hottest on record. Turf absorbs heat from the sun and can become much hotter than natural grass, creating a health hazard, according to the Center for Environmental Health.“On turf, you get more blisters, turf toe, and turf burns. I’m playing recreational soccer now and dealing with blisters myself,” said Smith, the Seattle physical therapist who specializes in orthopedic injuries and rehabilitation. “Turf gets hot, and when you add sweat and heat, it becomes a dangerous combination.”Brian Feeley, an orthopedic surgeon at the University of California-San Francisco, said his studies show ACL and Achilles tendon injuries are more likely on turf and more likely to require surgery.“Artificial turf doesn’t release cleats as easily,” he said. “That puts more torque and strain on the knees and ankles.”And Feeley said the long-term consequences can be severe: “An ACL injury as a young athlete can keep you from playing at the next level and lead to arthritis in your 30s.”Natalie Silva is still recovering from a torn anterior cruciate ligament injury in her right knee that she says happened in February 2024 during a high school soccer game played on a turf field.Natalie SilvaSilva, the injured high school soccer player, said she wishes her games had been played on natural grass. The Uxbridge High School principal’s office and athletic department declined multiple requests to comment.She vividly recalls the match in February 2024 when she tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee.“I went up to head the ball and landed awkwardly on my right leg,” she said. “The goalie ran into me at full speed, and my knee popped. I immediately fell to the floor in agony. Every bump in the car ride home made my leg jerk — it felt detached.”Before the injury, Silva said, she had hoped to play soccer in college. Now, she is struggling through rehabilitation three times a week and can’t play for a full year.Asked about her future in soccer, Silva said she doesn’t know what to expect. Right now, she’s just trying to enjoy senior year.“The mental side of it is the worst,” Silva said. “The feeling of one day being able to do everything and the next you can’t walk or even move your leg. The mental aspect of it lasts longer than the pain.”Jon-David RegisJon-David Regis is a contributor to KFF Health News. Fred Clasen-Kelly contributed.

- Latest News - October 12, 2025

The artificial turf industry convinced local governments and school boards that switching from grass to turf could save money and expand playing time for youth sports.

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Oct. 12, 2025, 6:30 AM EDTBy Jared PerloOpenAI’s new text-to-video app, Sora, was supposed to be a social AI playground, allowing users to create imaginative AI videos of themselves, friends and celebrities while building off of others’ ideas.The social structure of the app, which allows users to adjust the availability of their likeness in others’ videos, seemed to address the most pressing questions of consent around AI-generated video when it was launched last week. But as Sora sits atop the iOS App Store with over 1 million downloads, experts worry about its potential to deluge the internet with historical misinformation and deepfakes of deceased historical figures who cannot consent to or opt out of Sora’s AI models.In less than a minute, the app can generate short videos of deceased celebrities in situations they were never in: Aretha Franklin making soy candles, Carrie Fisher trying to balance on a slackline, Nat King Cole ice skating in Havana and Marilyn Monroe teaching Vietnamese to schoolchildren, for instance.That’s a nightmare for people like Adam Streisand, an attorney who has represented several celebrity estates, including Monroe’s at one point.“The challenge with AI is not the law,” Streisand said in an email, pointing out that California’s courts have long protected celebrities “from AI-like reproductions of their images or voices.”“The question is whether a non-AI judicial process that depends on human beings will ever be able to play an almost 5th dimensional game of whack-a-mole.”Videos on Sora range from the absurd to the delightful to the confusing. Aside from celebrities, many videos on Sora show convincing deepfakes of manipulated historical moments. For example, NBC News was able to generate realistic videos of President Dwight Eisenhower confessing to accepting millions of dollars in bribes, U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher arguing that the “so-called D-Day landings” were overblown, and President John F. Kennedy announcing that the moon landing was “not a triumph of science but a fabrication.”The ability to generate such deepfakes of nonconsenting deceased individuals has already caused complaints from family members.In an Instagram story posted Monday about Sora videos featuring Robin Williams, who died in 2014, Williams’ daughter Zelda wrote: “If you’ve got any decency, just stop doing this to him and to me, to everyone even, full stop. It’s dumb, it’s a waste of time and energy, and believe me, it’s NOT what he’d want.”Bernice King, Martin Luther King Jr.’s daughter, wrote on X: “I concur concerning my father. Please stop.” King’s famous “I have a dream” speech has been continuously manipulated and remixed on the app. George Carlin’s daughter said in a BlueSky post that his family was “doing our best to combat” deepfakes of the late comedian.Sora-generated videos depicting “horrific violence” involving renowned physicist Stephen Hawking have also surged in popularity this week, with many examples circulating on X.A spokesperson for OpenAI told NBC News: “While there are strong free speech interests in depicting historical figures, we believe that public figures and their families should ultimately have control over how their likeness is used. For public figures who are recently deceased, authorized representatives or owners of their estate can request that their likeness not be used in Sora cameos.”In a blog post from last Friday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote that the company would soon “give rightsholders more granular control over generation of characters,” referring to wider types of content. “We are hearing from a lot of rightsholders who are very excited for this new kind of ‘interactive fan fiction’ and think this new kind of engagement will accrue a lot of value to them, but want the ability to specify how their characters can be used (including not at all).”OpenAI’s quickly evolving policies for Sora have led some commentators to argue the company’s move fast and break things approach was purposeful, showing users and intellectual-property holders the app’s power and reach.Liam Mayes, a lecturer at Rice University’s program in media studies, thinks increasingly realistic deepfakes could have two key societal effects. First, he said, “we’ll find trusting people falling victim to all kinds of scams, big, powerful companies exerting coercive pressures and nefarious actors undermining democratic processes,” Mayes said.At the same time, being unable to discern deepfakes from real video might reduce trust in genuine media. “We might see trust in all sorts of media establishments and institutions erode,” Mayes said.As founder and chairman of CMG Worldwide, Mark Roesler has managed the intellectual property and licensing rights for over 3,000 deceased entertainment, sports, historical and music personalities like James Dean, Neil Armstrong and Albert Einstein. Roesler said that Sora is just the latest technology to raise concerns about protecting figures’ legacies.“There is and will be abuse as there has always been with celebrities and their valuable intellectual property,” he wrote in an email. “When we began representing deceased personalities in 1981, the internet was not even in existence.”“New technology and innovation help keep the legacies of many historical, iconic personalities alive, who shaped and influenced our history,” Roesler added, saying that CMG will continue to represent its clients’ interests within AI applications like Sora.To differentiate between a real and Sora-generated video, OpenAI implemented several tools to help users and digital platforms identify Sora-created content.Each video includes invisible signals, a visible watermark and metadata — behind-the-scenes technical information that describes the content as AI-generated.Yet several of these layers are easily removable, said Sid Srinivasan, a computer scientist at Harvard University. “Visible watermarks and metadata will deter casual misuse through some friction, but they are easy enough to remove and won’t stop more determined actors.”Srinivasan said an invisible watermark and an associated detection tool would likely be the most reliable approach. “Ultimately, video-hosting platforms will likely need access to detection tools like this, and there’s no clear timeline for wider access to such internal tools.”Wenting Zheng, an assistant professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University, echoed that view, saying: “To automatically detect AI-generated materials on social media posts, it would be beneficial for OpenAI to share their tool for tracing images, audio and videos with the platforms to assist people in identifying AI-generated content.”When asked for specifics about whether OpenAI had shared these detection tools with other platforms like Meta or X, a spokesperson from OpenAI referred NBC News to a general technical report. The report does not provide such detailed information.To better identify genuine footage, some companies are resorting to AI to detect AI outputs, according to Ben Colman, CEO and co-founder of Reality Defender, a deepfake-detecting startup.“Human beings — even those trained on the problem, as some of our competitors are — are faulty and wrong, missing the unseeable or unhearable,” Colman said.At Reality Defender, “AI is used to detect AI,” Colman told NBC News. AI-generated “videos may get more realistic to you and I, but AI can see and hear things that we cannot.”Similarly, McAfee’s Scam Detector software “listens to a video’s audio for AI fingerprints and analyzes it to determine whether the content is authentic or AI-generated,” according to Steve Grobman, chief technology officer at McAfee.However, Grobman added, “new tools are making fake video and audio look more real all the time, and 1 in 5 people told us they or someone they know has already fallen victim to a deepfake scam.”The quality of deepfakes also differs among languages, as current AI tools in commonly used languages like English, Spanish or Mandarin are vastly more capable than tools in less commonly used languages.“We are regularly evolving the technology as new AI tools come out, and expanding beyond English so more languages and contexts are covered,” Grobman said.Concerns about deepfakes have made headlines before. Less than a year ago, many observers predicted that the 2024 elections would be overrun with deepfakes. This largely turned out not to be true.Until this year, however, AI-generated media, like images, audio and video, has largely been distinguishable from real content. Many commentators have found models released in 2025 to be particularly lifelike, threatening the public’s ability to discern real, human-created information from AI-generated content.Google’s Veo 3 video-generation model, released in May, was called “terrifyingly accurate” and “dangerously lifelike” at the time, inspiring one reviewer to ask, “Are we doomed?”Jared PerloJared Perlo is a writer and reporter at NBC News covering AI. He is currently supported by the Tarbell Center for AI Journalism.

- Latest News - October 12, 2025

While Sora has some guardrails around the likenesses of living people, protections around the likenesses of those who have died appear to be an afterthought.

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Oct. 12, 2025, 1:54 AM EDTBy Phil HelselPam Bondi vs. the Senate: Round Two. That was the scenario envisaged by “Saturday Night Live” on Saturday, with alum Amy Poehler portraying the attorney general in a follow-up to her combative hearing with Democrats this week.Asked how President Donald Trump could justify deploying National Guard troops against Americans, Poehler’s Bondi was confrontational.”Before I don’t answer, I’d like to insult you personally,” Poehler’s Bondi responded.Fellow former cast member Tina Fey made a surprise appearance as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, toting an assault-style rifle and making a pitch for applicants to become Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers that included questions like, “Do you need a job now?” and “Do you take supplements that you bought at a gas station?””Then buckle up and slap on some Oakleys, big boy: Welcome to ICE,” Fey’s Noem said.Poehler, a seven-year “SNL” cast member who left in 2008 to go on to “Parks and Recreation” fame, hosted for the third time Saturday.Her appearance came on the 50th anniversary of “Saturday Night Live,” which premiered Oct. 11, 1975.”It’s always a dream come true to be here. I remember watching the show in the ’70s, sitting in my house in Burlington, Massachusetts, thinking: ‘I want to be an actress someday — at least until they invent an AI actress who’s funnier and willing to do full-frontal,'” Poehler said in her monologue.She also had a message of hope for those who may feel overwhelmed. “If there’s a place that feels like home, that you can go back to and laugh with your friends, consider yourself lucky — and I do,” she said.And she had the last laugh against her imagined AI doppelgänger. “And to that little AI robot watching TV right now who wants to be on this stage someday, I say to you: Beep, boop, beep, boop beep beep,” Poehler said. “Which translates to: You’ll never be able to write a joke, you stupid robot! And I am willing to do full-frontal, but nobody’s asked me, OK?”Another skit had a cameo by Aubrey Plaza, a former intern and guest host on “SNL” who also starred on “Parks and Recreation.”In a parody of Netflix’s “The Hunting Wives” — introduced as “the straight but lesbian horny Republican murder drama” — Plaza played “a new new girl” who joined the group. After a sexually charged lesson in how to make a mimosa, Plaza revealed she had a girlfriend, prompting the other women to shout, “lesbian!” and immediately pull their guns on her.The reunion did not end there. A “Weekend Update” anchor trio of Seth Meyers, Fey and Poehler, who have all been behind the desk, joined current hosts Colin Jost and Michael Che for a quiz show-style battle.Role Model was Saturday’s musical guest. His performance of “Sally, When The Wine Runs Out” featured an appearance by Charli XCX. At the end of the episode, “SNL” paid tribute to Oscar-winning actor Diane Keaton, showing a portrait. Keaton died at the age of 79, her daughter said earlier Saturday.Sabrina Carpenter, who recently released the album “Man’s Best Friend,” is the host and musical guest of next week’s episode. “SNL” airs on NBC, a division of NBCUniversal, which is also the parent company of NBC News.Phil HelselPhil Helsel is a reporter for NBC News.

- Latest News - October 12, 2025

Pam Bondi vs. the Senate: Round Two.

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Oct. 11, 2025, 7:00 AM EDTBy Aria BendixIt started with an unsubstantiated warning that taking Tylenol during pregnancy could raise a child’s risk of autism. But the message from President Donald Trump and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. seems to have quickly expanded to suggest that babies and young children should avoid the common painkiller.“Don’t give it to the baby when the baby’s born,” Trump said of Tylenol at a Cabinet meeting on Thursday.Kennedy jumped in to suggest that children who are circumcised have higher autism rates, “likely because they’re given Tylenol.”As the administration’s stance on the medication has broadened over the last few weeks, researchers say the notion that young children may develop autism as a result of taking Tylenol is particularly far-fetched.“There’s even less evidence that there’s a link between Tylenol in early childhood and autism than there is that Tylenol taken during pregnancy causes autism,” said David Mandell, a psychiatry professor at the University of Pennsylvania.The bulk of scientific evidence suggests moderate Tylenol use is safe in pregnancy, and many autism researchers say data does not support a causal link to autism. When it comes to young children, the American Academy of Pediatrics says Tylenol is safe when taken correctly under the guidance of a pediatrician. The medication shouldn’t be given to children younger than 12 weeks, the group says, unless a doctor recommends it, since Tylenol can mask fevers or early signs of sepsis, which require immediate medical attention.Packages of Tylenol and generic pain and fever relief medicine for sale on a shelf in a pharmacy in Houston on Sept. 23.Ronaldo Schemidt / AFP – Getty Images fileTrump and Kennedy’s first announcement about Tylenol and autism came on Sept. 22, when they unveiled regulatory actions to limit the medication’s use in pregnancy. Though Trump warned pregnant women to “fight like hell not to take it,” the actual policy changes were more subdued. The Food and Drug Administration issued a letter asking physicians to “consider minimizing the use of acetaminophen during pregnancy for routine low-grade fevers.” (Acetaminophen is the active ingredient in Tylenol.)The FDA acknowledged, however, that Tylenol is the safest over-the-counter pain reliever in pregnancy and that “a causal relationship has not been established” with autism.The agency made no mention of risks to children. Nevertheless, both Kennedy and Trump have repeated such warnings on several occasions — a significant leap from the FDA messaging.In a post on Truth Social two weeks ago, Trump wrote that young children should not take Tylenol “for virtually any reason.”Kennedy, meanwhile, doubled down on his statement about circumcision in a post on X on Friday, saying that “the observed autism correlation in circumcised boys is best explained by acetaminophen exposure.”Dr. Joshua Gordon, chair of the psychiatry department at Columbia University, said the snowballing warnings about Tylenol represent a common tactic among those looking to attribute autism to vaccines or medications.“Robert F. Kennedy and his colleagues will start with asking one question, and when the scientific community answers that question, they’ll tweak the question slightly to prolong, if you will, the debate on the topic,” Gordon said.He pointed to the way the anti-vaccine community first raised concerns about the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine in connection to autism, then pivoted to focus on a mercury-based preservative in vaccines and on the cumulative amount of vaccines administered in childhood. (Each of these concerns has been debunked.)“No amount of scientific evidence can ever be conclusive for this community,” Gordon said. “The debate is like a hydra. You cut off one head and they’re just going to try to emerge with another.”The Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to a request for comment.White House spokesperson Kush Desai said that “the President is right to express his commonsense opinion that Americans should use caution with all medications and adhere to FDA guidance, including the longstanding guidance regarding appropriate use and dosage of acetaminophen in young children.”A spokesperson for Kenvue, the maker of Tylenol, said the medication is “one of the most widely studied pain relievers and fever reducers in infants and children, and numerous randomized, controlled clinical trials support the safety of acetaminophen in infants and children when used as directed.”The spokesperson added that “independent, sound science clearly shows that taking acetaminophen does not cause autism.”Mandell said claims that Tylenol increases autism rates in babies and toddlers are based on low-quality studies that don’t prove causation.He pointed to a small study that found younger children with autism were significantly more likely to take acetaminophen for a fever compared to children without the disorder. Mandell said the study had limitations: Parents had to recall how often they gave their children acetaminophen, and children with autism are more prone to discomfort, which may lead their parents to give acetaminophen more frequently.One scientist in particular, immunologist William Parker, has fueled the theory that autism can be attributed to acetaminophen use in babies and young children. In his post on X, Kennedy cited a paper by Parker that says there is “overwhelming evidence” that acetaminophen triggers autism. But the paper hasn’t been peer-reviewed or published in a scientific journal.Kennedy also mentioned a Danish study from 2015 that concluded that boys who are circumcised may have a greater risk of developing autism. But the study authors said they couldn’t attribute the purported effect to Tylenol.Dr. Sian Jones-Jobst, a pediatrician and the president of Complete Children’s Health, a pediatric network in Lincoln, Nebraska, said very few pediatricians administer Tylenol for circumcisions; instead, the common practice is injecting a numbing medication.She added that in other situations, Tylenol is a useful tool to reduce fever or pain.“You shouldn’t let your child suffer if they’re obviously uncomfortable,” Jones-Jobst said.Aria BendixAria Bendix is the breaking health reporter for NBC News Digital.

- Latest News - October 12, 2025

After advising that Tylenol be avoided during pregnancy, Trump and Kennedy have broadened their claims to suggest without evidence that babies and kids shouldn’t take it, either.

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Oct. 11, 2025, 11:53 AM EDTBy Katherine DoyleAs Erika Kirk steps into a more public role following the death of her husband, Charlie, conservatives are watching closely to see whether she can expand the reach of Turning Point USA, the organization he co-founded for young conservatives.Whereas Charlie Kirk’s message resonated with young men, Republicans involved in campaigns hope Erika Kirk can bring in more young women, a demographic Republicans have struggled to win over.“If Erika could solve this, it is monumental,” said Harlan Hill, a Republican consultant. “It is potentially greater than anything Charlie did. And it’s exactly, I think, what Charlie would have wanted.” Kirk declined an interview request. The Republican Party has made some gains among young women voters, but it still faces a daunting picture, with the gap largest among younger voters. President Donald Trump closed his gap among young women from 35 percentage points in 2020 to 23 in 2024, shrinking Democrats’ lead with the group, NBC News exit polls showed. But a recent NBC News Decision Desk Poll found that Generation Z women are the most anti-Trump group across age and gender, with 74% disapproving of his job performance, compared with 26% who approve. By comparison, 53% of Gen Z men disapprove, while 47% approve. The gap highlights the challenge for Kirk and shows why Republicans may be eager for her to play a larger role in reaching young women. Turning Point has resumed public events with appearances from high-profile figures — many of them women — with conservative commentator Allie Beth Stuckey and reality television star Savannah Chrisley among the speakers scheduled over the coming weeks and months. Megyn Kelly and Alex Clark, a former morning show host in Indianapolis who hosts the Gifted Apothecary podcast, recently hosted events.Alex Bruesewitz, a Trump adviser and friend of the Kirks, said Erika herself is a gifted speaker and well-positioned to lead the organization through a period of uncertainty after the loss of Charlie Kirk.“I don’t think anyone is better suited to run Turning Point than Erika,” he said. “She was by Charlie’s side as he took it from a small organization to a behemoth, and Erika played no small role.”At Charlie Kirk’s memorial service in Arizona last month, Kirk said she was “united in purpose” with her late husband and vowed that the organization would continue to grow under her leadership, promising more speaking events and “thousands” of new chapters nationwide. “His passion was my passion, and now his mission is my mission,” she said. “Everything that Turning Point USA built — Charlie’s vision and hard work — we will make 10 times greater through the power of his memory.”’I want to support her’Kirk has offered clues about her own political stance, emphasizing forgiveness, framing much of her purpose through a spiritual lens. On an episode of “The Charlie Kirk Show,” her husband once teased that Erika was much more conservative than he was. “Not even close,” he said, responding to a listener’s question. “I am a moderate compared to Erika.”Kirk also took credit for nudging her husband further rightward. “​​Andrew always jokes that when you got married to me, you got more based,” she said, referring to Andrew Kolvet, a longtime friend and colleague of her husband’s who was the executive producer of his show.Becoming a mother made Kirk even more conservative, her husband suggested. She agreed: “One hundred percent. Which I didn’t think was possible. And a better wife.”Kirk’s embrace of motherhood, faith and marriage is intrinsic. The one time she joined “The Charlie Kirk Show” after her husband’s death, she styled her name with the prefix “Mrs.” Motherhood is a “launchpad,” not a limitation, she said this year. “It’s not a waste of your degree to raise children with wisdom, love and truth.” At a conference for young women, she called for a revival of “biblical womanhood.”Kirk’s personal story and traditional views have already resonated with some women.

- Latest News - October 12, 2025

As Erika Kirk takes over leadership of Turning Point USA, which was run by her late husband, Charlie Kirk, Republicans hope she can help close the gender gap among young.

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