Malta mums breathe out: paracetamol still safe in pregnancy after Trump autism scare
Paracetamol remains safe in pregnancy, Maltese authorities assure after Trump claim
By Hot Malta Newsroom
Valletta – Maltese expectant mothers can keep reaching for the little white pills. The Malta Medicines Authority (MMA) moved quickly this week to reassure pregnant women that paracetamol remains “safe and effective” for short-term use, after former U.S. president Donald Trump told a U.S. podcast that the common painkiller “probably causes autism.”
Trump’s off-hand remark, made during a three-hour interview with influencer Logan Paul, ricocheted across parenting WhatsApp groups from Sliema to Gozo within hours. By Tuesday morning, Mater Dei’s antenatal clinic had already fielded a dozen calls from anxious mothers, while local pharmacies reported a 20 % drop in paracetamol sales.
“We had grandmothers coming in, clutching their daughters’ prescriptions, asking if they should throw the tablets away,” said Charmaine Spiteri, superintendent pharmacist at Tower Pharmacy in Birkirkara. “One woman burst into tears—she had taken two tablets for pelvic pain the night before.”
Cultural weight
In Malta, paracetamol is more than a medicine; it is a household ritual. Packaged in familiar yellow boxes stamped with the Maltese cross, it is dispensed for everything from teething toddlers to festa-day hangovers. Many village pharmacies still sell it over the counter in strips of ten, wrapped in brown paper bags like traditional qubbajt. Midwives joke that it is the first word learned after “mama” in Maltese babies—pronounced, of course, with a rolled “r”.
The scare therefore struck at a national reflex. “My nanna gave it to my mother, my mother gave it to me, I gave it to my three kids,” said Claire Camilleri, 34, enjoying a figolla in Żabbar minutes after her 32-week scan. “When you’re pregnant in Malta, you’re already bombarded with advice: don’t eat rabbit, don’t walk barefoot, don’t raise your arms above your head or the cord will strangle the baby. Now paracetamol? It’s too much.”
Medical voices step in
Within 24 hours of Trump’s comment, the MMA issued a two-page statement co-signed by the Obstetrics & Gynaecology department at Mater Dei. “No credible peer-reviewed study links paracetamol to neuro-developmental disorders,” the authority said, citing reviews by the European Medicines Agency and the World Health Organization. The statement was shared by popular Maltese parenting Facebook group “Mummy Malta”, whose 38 k followers swapped memes of Trump clutching a Maltese ftira instead of a medical degree.
Dr. Elena Bezzina, consultant obstetrician and mother-of-two, filmed a 60-second TikTok in Maltese and English that has since been viewed 92 k times. “I’m literally holding a strip of paracetamol and my stethoscope,” she says in the clip. “This is safer than the herbal tea your auntie swears by.” Comments range from “Grazzi Elena! You calmed my nerves” to “Can we get this on loop at every village band club?”
Community ripple
The episode has highlighted how global misinformation seeps into Malta’s tight-knit pre-natal culture, where family opinion often outweighs clinical leaflets. “We’re seeing third-generation matriarchs arriving at clinic wielding print-outs of U.S. conspiracy sites,” laughed midwife Graziella Vella. “Our job now is to translate evidence into the village dialect.”
Health Minister Jo Etienne Abela weighed in, telling reporters outside Castille: “Malta’s mothers should trust decades of local data, not foreign sound-bites. If anyone is unsure, speak to your pharmacist—he probably baptised your cousin.”
Conclusion
By Thursday, sales figures had rebounded and Mater Dei’s hotline quietened. Yet the incident leaves a residue: a reminder that in Malta, where family networks are as strong as the limestone walls, a single headline can rattle an island. The takeaway, authorities say, is simple—keep the paracetamol, lose the panic. And maybe, just maybe, fact-check before you forward that WhatsApp voice note from auntie in Australia.
