The Food and Drug Administration, making good on a Trump administration promise to examine usage of antidepressants, on Monday convened a panel largely of antidepressant skeptics to discuss the health impacts of taking such medicine while pregnant, though several panelists have no particular expertise on pregnancy research.
The panelists during the two-hour event essentially echoed the statements of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has cast doubt on the effectiveness of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and other medicines. They presented unproven theories about potential linkages between mothers taking antidepressants and babies developing autism and fetal alcohol syndrome, among other disorders.
Democrats in Congress have called out Kennedy for making claims without scientific research to back them, describing his anti-SSRI views as dangerous and detrimental to Americans receiving routine and necessary health care. They have called for evidence-backed decisions from the nation’s health agencies.
