BBC: Trump's unnproven autism claim

In this programme, Trump makes unproven link between autism and pain relief drug Tylenol. Scientists react. 

In this programme, we look at one big news story and the vocabulary in the headlines that will help you understand it. 

You can find all the vocabulary and headlines from this episode, as well as a worksheet on our website, bbclearningenglish.com. 

Let's hear more about this story. 

US President Donald Trump has said there is a link between autism and the pain relieving drug Tyrenol, or paracetamol as it's known in other places. 

Trump said that doctors in the US will soon be advised not to prescirbe the pain reliever to pregnant women.

Medical experts disagree with these claims, with some calling the president's comments dangerous. 

The health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said the US Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, would begin the process of changing how the medication is labeled and launch a public health campaign. 

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, who are expert in women's health, said the announcement was unsetting and not based on reliable data. 

Let's have our first headline. 

This one is from CBS News in the USA. Trump and RFK Jr. Make autism announcement  as Tylenol maker and medical experts push back. 

So this headline is about the announcement by Donald Trump and the US Health Secretary linking autism and Tylenol. It says, Medical experts push back, Neil. What does this phrasal verb push back mean?

Well, here in this headline, push back means to disagree with or resist something that's been proposed. The medical experts push back against Trump's claims about autism. They disagree with him. 

Yes, you can push back against ideas or even proposals for something. Another example, residents in a village pushed back on plans to build a new motoway through the middle. 

Pushback can be used on its own, like in the headline Medical experts push back, or it can be allowed by the prepositions on or against to push back against something. 

We also have the noun pushback. For example, despite pushback from the residents, the plans to build the new motorway will go ahead. 

We've had push back, disagree wiht or resist something. 

For example, scientists are pushing back on claims that the climate change isn't real. 

This. 

There is recent research which suggests an association between paracetamol use in pregnancy and autism in children, but there is no causal link, meaning there's no proof that one causes the other, other researchers found no connection at all. 

Health officials in the UK have made clear that paracetamol remains the safest painkiller available to preganat women. 

The UK's health secretary, Wes Streeting, says expectant mothers should not pay any attention to the US president's claims.