The day President Trump advised pregnant women against taking Tylenol, citing an unproven link to autism, a key legal figure associated with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also addressed the controversy.
Aaron Siri, a plaintiff’s lawyer long aligned with Mr. Kennedy in vaccine-related legal disputes, submitted a 12-page petition to the Food and Drug Administration. He urged the agency to implement stronger warning labels for the popular painkiller.
This isn’t new territory for Mr. Siri; his law firm previously encouraged individuals in 2023 to pursue legal claims concerning Tylenol and autism, coinciding with numerous ongoing lawsuits nationwide.
Should the FDA issue an official warning regarding Tylenol use during pregnancy, it would likely strengthen existing lawsuits against acetaminophen manufacturers, such as Kenvue. Kenvue, the producer of Tylenol, has consistently asserted its product is safe for pregnant women.
This petition is just one in a series of strategic moves by lawyers and activists whose goals mirror Mr. Kennedy’s agenda: to question vaccine policies and product safety. As Mr. Kennedy’s former campaign lawyer, Mr. Siri is now a central figure in advancing these shared objectives, both within the government and through the legal system.
Their partnership appears to offer mutual benefits. Mr. Kennedy’s influence in health policy is already creating opportunities for Mr. Siri and other advocates who have long pushed for similar, significant changes.
Mr. Siri is currently leading legal action to uphold religious exemptions for vaccines, a stance officially endorsed by Mr. Kennedy. He has also been involved in evaluating potential candidates for key departmental positions and a prominent vaccine committee. Furthermore, Mr. Siri has initiated multiple lawsuits against children’s toothpaste manufacturers regarding fluoride, another additive that Mr. Kennedy opposes.
Mr. Siri stated he was unaware if his firm was handling Tylenol cases and denied any collaboration with Mr. Kennedy’s office or the White House on the acetaminophen issue. He noted that his law firm occasionally refers clients to other attorneys, splitting the associated fees.
According to legal ethics experts, Mr. Siri’s actions are concerning due to their potential to influence public policy in a manner that could directly benefit his clients.
Elizabeth Chamblee Burch, a law professor at the University of Georgia, articulated the core worry: ‘The concern is always just whether there is some sort of insider influence, or whether decisions being made by the government are backed by hard science and research.’
As Mr. Kennedy was tapped to lead the Department of Health and Human Services late last year, Mr. Siri was involved in interviewing candidates for crucial roles within the department. Publicly, Mr. Siri’s prominence seemed to diminish after his 2022 attempt to halt the use of the stand-alone polio vaccine sparked significant controversy.
Despite this, his influence has persisted. Last month, Susan Monarez, the former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, informed senators that Mr. Kennedy had directed her to arrange a meeting with Mr. Siri.
Although Dr. Monarez did not meet with Mr. Siri, her public statements suggested Mr. Kennedy’s intention to involve him in the department’s affairs.
Mr. Siri informed The Times that his ongoing work, including the Tylenol petition, is largely carried out for the Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN). ICAN is a nonprofit organization led by Del Bigtree, Mr. Kennedy’s former campaign communications director and a prominent anti-vaccine activist.
Mr. Siri stated, ‘Our push, on behalf of our clients, for transparency and positive change within the federal government over the last six months is no different than that push over the past decade.’
However, Mr. Siri has hinted in other contexts that this period marks a unique opportunity for their advocacy.
During an April webcast hosted by Mr. Bigtree, Mr. Siri remarked, ‘It is also the time where we probably, and hopefully, can get the most accomplished. So let’s press our advantage, to the extent that we have one.’
Vaccine Mandates and Exemptions
In early September, Mr. Kennedy’s department issued a reminder to states, emphasizing the importance of respecting individuals’ rights to religious exemptions from vaccine requirements.
Concurrently, Mr. Siri spearheaded a legal initiative with West Virginia’s governor to allow these exemptions. In June, he joined Gov. Patrick Morrisey to announce a lawsuit against the state’s Board of Education, acting on behalf of a mother seeking a religious exemption for her child.
Despite the governor’s executive order granting the exemption, the education board ultimately voted to uphold the state’s existing vaccine requirements for school enrollment.
Mr. Kennedy publicly backed the governor’s stance in a post on X. The federal health department further communicated with West Virginia, implying that its receipt of $1.4 billion in federal Vaccines for Children funding—earmarked for vaccinating low-income children—obligates it to recognize religious exemptions.
Mr. Siri secured an initial injunction in the case. However, the American Civil Liberties Union intervened in August, seeking to block the religious exemption. The lawsuit remains ongoing.
Both Mr. Bigtree and Mr. Siri have stated that the West Virginia case is part of a larger strategy to establish religious exemptions from vaccination mandates in states currently lacking them, such as California and New York.
Lawsuits on Fluoride and Tylenol
Mr. Siri benefits from the backing of conservative lawmakers who are wary of vaccines and frequently invite him to testify before Congress.
He has consistently advocated for removing liability protections for vaccine manufacturers, arguing that this would facilitate more lawsuits. He also mentioned that his law firm is currently handling approximately 90 lawsuits on behalf of ICAN.
Echoing another of Mr. Kennedy’s concerns, Mr. Siri has initiated class-action lawsuits against several children’s toothpaste manufacturers. He alleges that the packaging imagery encourages children to ingest excessive amounts of fluoride.
The companies involved have defended their products, with one arguing that the ‘reasonable consumer is not a dimwit’ and highlighting the clear warnings provided on their packaging.
Mr. Kennedy had previously requested the CDC to reassess appropriate fluoride levels in drinking water and has urged states to remove it. Historically, fluoride has been added to water supplies to prevent tooth decay.
Regarding the Tylenol matter, Mr. Siri’s firm seemed to be preparing its petition to enhance warnings roughly two weeks before President Trump’s September 22nd speech. A staff member from Mr. Siri’s firm had uploaded relevant documents to the Internet Archive, which were later used as footnotes in the petition. These included internal FDA review records on Tylenol, previously revealed through lawsuits.
Remarkably, the petition for a stronger Tylenol warning reached the FDA on the very day Dr. Marty Makary, the agency’s commissioner, publicly announced plans to add such a warning.
Mr. Siri asserted that he and his team were unaware of any intent by HHS or White House officials to ‘connect this drug with autism when we started’ the petition, stating that ‘those happened entirely independent of one another.’
It’s important to note that studies have not established a causal link between acetaminophen and autism.
An official FDA warning concerning pregnancy and Tylenol would undoubtedly prove advantageous for plaintiffs and their legal teams in lawsuits claiming a failure to adequately warn about potential autism risks.
Ashley Keller, a lead attorney representing plaintiffs suing Tylenol manufacturers, commented, ‘It is, of course, going to be easier and more intuitive for us to explain to a jury that that warning should have been given, if the warning is now actually on the bottle of Tylenol.’
Spotlight Returns to Polio Vaccines
In December, when The New York Times reported on Mr. Siri’s petition to withdraw or suspend the stand-alone polio vaccine, Mr. Kennedy was still awaiting Senate confirmation. This report sparked considerable public outcry, prompting Mitch McConnell, the former Senate majority leader and a polio survivor, to advise Mr. Kennedy to ‘steer clear’ of any involvement with such an initiative.
Mr. Siri subsequently embarked on a media tour to clarify his criticisms regarding the vaccine’s safety. However, in recent months, both Mr. Siri and Mr. Bigtree, alongside Mr. Kennedy, have either expanded upon or reiterated their critiques of polio vaccines administered in the United States.
In a June social media post, Mr. Siri proposed that the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel shift its recommendation for routine childhood vaccinations, including the inactivated polio vaccine, to ‘shared clinical decision-making,’ a change that could potentially reduce vaccine uptake.
When questioned about the post, Mr. Siri stated that vaccines not preventing virus transmission ‘provide personal protection at best.’ Public health experts, however, consider this sufficient, given the shots’ efficacy in mitigating suffering, fatalities, and healthcare costs.
In his May 19th written testimony to Congress, Mr. Siri reiterated aspects of his polio petition. He highlighted that the current U.S. polio vaccine differs from Jonas Salk’s 1950s version, with the newer iteration being cultivated in ‘monkey kidney cells.’
While issues arose in the 1950s concerning cells derived from various monkeys, scientists concur that modern inoculations have resolved this problem by employing rigorously tested cell lines.
In June, Mr. Kennedy published a lengthy post on X, mirroring Mr. Siri’s rhetoric and concerns. A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services did not offer comment on the matter.
Mr. Siri stated that he and Mr. Kennedy ‘have long discussed’ the inactivated polio vaccine, adding, ‘but I don’t recall doing so after he has taken office.’
Mr. Bigtree further elaborated on his perspectives during a podcast in July.
Mr. Bigtree’s nonprofit organization is a significant financial supporter of Mr. Siri’s legal endeavors. According to its latest tax filing, the firm received $6 million in 2023, with an additional $13 million in funding since 2018.
Mr. Bigtree controversially claimed that contracting polio is ‘like having a cold,’ a statement public health experts deem false and hazardous. He also suggested that infection with the disease could provide robust immunity. ‘Polio is not the epidemic that we believe that it is,’ Mr. Bigtree asserted.
Weeks subsequent to these statements, Mr. Bigtree was seen at the White House for an unrelated interview on vaccine policy with Lindell TV, a far-right network. The White House declined to comment on his visit, and Mr. Bigtree did not respond to inquiries.
Dr. Walter Orenstein, associate director of the Emory University vaccine center, explained that in 2000, the inactivated polio vaccine replaced a live-virus version that had caused paralytic polio in approximately eight to ten individuals annually. The current vaccine has successfully eradicated this issue.
He expressed a strong concern: ‘I would hate to have to need a polio resurgence in order to get people to realize they should be getting their children vaccinated against polio. It’s an absolutely terrible disease.’
Reshaping Vaccine Recommendations
For his part, Mr. Kennedy has overseen several actions that have dramatically altered conventional vaccine policies. He notably restructured a key CDC committee, replacing many members with individuals who are skeptical of vaccines.
Diana Zuckerman, president of the National Center for Health Research, recalled being interviewed by Mr. Siri’s firm as a prospective committee member, but never received a follow-up.
Dr. Zuckerman reported that a senior partner from Mr. Siri’s law office inquired if she would agree that vaccine decisions should solely rest with parents and doctors. She understood this as an attempt to gauge her support for eliminating childhood vaccination mandates, a stance she informed the interviewer would be detrimental.
She expressed surprise at Mr. Siri’s continued influence following the polio controversy, remarking, ‘I guess that R.F.K. Jr. thinks he’s untouchable.’
The health department declined to comment regarding the law firm’s involvement with the committee.
In an email, Mr. Siri stated that the White House is responsible for screening and selecting committee members. He added, ‘We have no ability to make those choices, but we certainly would be open to having the White House let us choose.’
A legal initiative launched by Mr. Siri in May against Mr. Kennedy’s department, aimed at publicizing a vaccine safety database, is still awaiting resolution. The next month, Mr. Kennedy mentioned in an interview with Tucker Carlson his intention to make this identical database ‘available for independent scientists so everybody can look at it.’