UK experts have condemned “fearmongering” in the US after it was reported Donald Trump’s administration will say there is a link between paracetamol use in pregnancy and autism.

Scientists have hit back, with one saying the claim “risks stigmatising families who have autistic children as having brought it on themselves”.

The Wall Street Journal reported that US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr is expected to say Tylenol – which is paracetamol in the UK – is a potential cause of autism.