Russia-US summit postponed – Putin
RT | October 23, 2025
Russian President Vladimir Putin has confirmed that the planned Budapest summit with US counterpart Donald Trump is being postponed. Speaking to journalists on Thursday, he noted that the proposal was initially made by the American side.
The Russian leader admitted that it would have been a mistake to approach the summit without the necessary preparations, suggesting that a meeting might still take place at a later date. Putin emphasized that dialogue is always better than confrontation, arguments, and the continuation of war.
A Russia-US summit, which was planned to be held in the Hungarian capital, was announced last week by both the Kremlin and the White House after a phone call between Trump and Putin. On Wednesday, however, Trump announced that the meeting would be postponed. On the same day, Washington imposed sanctions on two major Russian oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil.
Commenting on the sanctions, Putin described them as an “unfriendly move” that does not boost Russia-US relations.
At the same time, he noted that the new restrictions would not have a significant impact on the Russian economy.
Putin also stated that the US sanctions are yet another attempt by Washington to exert pressure on Moscow and stressed that “no self-respecting country ever does anything under pressure.”
He further suggested that there are certain people in the US administration that have been encouraging Trump to restrict Russian oil exports and called for considering who these individuals actually work for.
Putin insisted that Russia and the US actually have many areas in which they could cooperate if they would move away from pressure tactics and toward serious conversations about the long term.
George Beebe: US-Russia Agreement to End NATO Expansionism or Accept an Ugly Russian Victory
Glenn Diesen | October 23, 2025
George Beebe is Director of Grand Strategy at the Quincy Institute, and the former CIA Director for Russia Analysis. Beebe argues that the window of opportunity for an agreement that ends NATO expansionism is closing, and the alternative will be an ugly Russian victory.
City Health Officials Tied to Soros Urge Public to ‘Get Vaccinated,’ Blame Policy Shifts for ‘Deadly Outbreaks’
By Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D. | The Defender | October 22, 2025
A coalition of city public health officials with ties to pharma investor George Soros is urging the public to “get vaccinated.”
In an open letter, the Big Cities Health Coalition accused federal officials of driving down vaccination rates and fueling an increase in dangerous infectious disease outbreaks by making “repeated false claims” about vaccines.
They wrote:
“Vaccines have eradicated devastating diseases and saved millions of lives. They keep classrooms safe and schools open. They allow children to spend time with friends and enjoy their favorite activities. They help parents and caregivers work to support their families.
The letter also addresses recent changes to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) recommended vaccine schedule for children and adults, though it does not mention U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or President Donald Trump by name.
The coalition, which represents 35 U.S. cities and about a fifth of the U.S. population, “has been working together to exchange ideas and address public health threats for more than two decades,” according to CNN, which first reported on the letter Monday.
Participating cities include New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Houston, Dallas, Cleveland, Milwaukee and Seattle.
The group’s financial documents reveal support from billionaire financier Soros. Soros has also invested heavily in the pharmaceutical industry, including COVID-19 vaccine makers Pfizer and AstraZeneca, and Gilead Sciences, which produces remdesivir, a controversial antiviral treatment frequently given to COVID-19 patients.
Coalition attempted to scrub funding from Soros- and Gates-linked groups
The Big Cities Health Coalition was founded in 2002, according to a now-deleted webpage. The current version of its website contains little more than the group’s recent letter.
Links to the organization’s 2023 and 2024 annual reports are no longer active, but can be found on the Internet Archive and elsewhere. The reports show that Soros and other major healthcare-related organizations, including groups connected to Bill Gates, finance the coalition.
According to its 2023 annual report, the Open Society Foundations, founded by Soros, funded the coalition. Other funders include the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, healthcare provider Kaiser Permanente and the CDC Foundation.
In 2022, the Soros Economic Development Fund, an extension of the Open Society Foundations, partnered with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and MedAccess, a pharma-industry broker connected to the U.K. government, to invest $200 million in developing COVID-19 vaccines.
The Gates Foundation is a major funder of Gavi.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has financially supported FactCheck.org, which previously flagged COVID-19-related “misinformation” for Facebook.
The CDC Foundation’s donor list includes the World Health Organization, the Gates Foundation and vaccine manufacturers including Pfizer, Merck and Johnson & Johnson.
According to internal medicine physician Dr. Clayton J. Baker, the coalition’s annual reports reveal clear conflicts of interest.
“It’s informative to look into the funding of organizations like the Big Cities Health Coalition,” Baker said. He noted that Kaiser Permanente paid patients $50 to get COVID-19 vaccines during the pandemic and fired employees who refused the shots, then tried to rehire them later when short-staffed.
According to the coalition’s Form 990 for fiscal year 2023, the organization spent $875,540 on “communications,” including engaging with “media, and federal policymakers about the importance of supporting local public health and health equity.”
The group also spent $433,703 on its “urban health agenda” and $147,397 on “equity/racial justice.”
The coalition’s members “meet periodically with Congressional staff” and “other federal government officials,” the filing states.
The organization’s schedule of contributors is listed as “restricted” in the filing.
Coalition blames unvaccinated for ‘deadly’ and ‘more frequent’ outbreaks
In its letter, the coalition blamed “declining” vaccination rates for “deadly outbreaks of diseases like measles and polio” and claimed that the outbreaks are “becoming more frequent.”
CNN reported that measles exposure at a South Carolina school led authorities to quarantine over 100 unvaccinated students, illustrating “one of the many reasons why Big Cities Health Coalition emphasizes the importance of vaccination.”
Research scientist and author James Lyons-Weiler, Ph.D., said that invoking measles and polio is a “manipulative framing device.” He said:
“Outbreaks of these diseases occur almost exclusively in highly vaccinated populations where immunity has waned, or where sanitation and migration variables are misattributed as ‘vaccine refusal.’
“By portraying every outbreak as proof of anti-vaccine rhetoric, the coalition seeks to recapture moral high ground based on presumptions of safety, without addressing the underlying immunologic and ecological data.”
The coalition’s letter also warned of a potential uptick of COVID-19 and flu infections in the “rapidly approaching” cold and flu season.
However, Baker said the coalition’s letter “contains absolutely zero genuine evidence” to support its claims. He said:
“The coalition’s statement is embarrassingly inane. They say, ‘We are united behind a simple message: get vaccinated.’ Vaccinated with what? They make no distinction between necessary or unnecessary, safe or unsafe, effective or ineffective shots. Just ‘get vaccinated.’ That’s like saying ‘get medicated.’ This is the asinine level of rhetoric to which vaccine fanatics are currently reduced.”
Emily Hilliard, press secretary for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), dismissed the coalition’s concerns.
“HHS is restoring the doctor-patient relationship so people can make informed decisions about their health with their providers,” Hilliard told The Defender.
Letter rooted in data, not ‘political ideology,’ coalition members say
Coalition members told CNN their letter is an attempt to restore public trust in science, not an effort to politicize public health recommendations.
“We have to make our public health decisions based on data and not on political ideology,” Dr. Philip Huang, director of the Dallas County Health and Human Services Department, told CNN. “We have to be the voices for that science and reason.”
Huang said the current CDC administration “seems more driven by political ideology than actual data and science, so it undermines the trust.”
Lyons-Weiler disputed the coalition’s claims, calling the letter “the opening salvo in an attempt to rebuild centralized narrative control over immunization policy.”
“Language such as ‘talk with your doctor’ and ‘tune out political noise’ is designed to sound apolitical while reinstating top-down message discipline,” he said.
CDC changes to vaccine policy spark pushback across U.S.
The coalition “is the latest group to take a strong public stand in support of vaccination as a direct response to concerns that the federal government is limiting access and raising doubts,” CNN reported.
Earlier this month, the CDC updated the childhood immunization schedule to recommend individual-based decision-making regarding COVID-19 vaccination for children 6 months and older, following the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) unanimous vote to adopt the recommendation.
Last month, ACIP also voted to recommend limiting the MMRV (measles, mumps, rubella and varicella, or chickenpox) vaccine to children ages 4 and older. And in June, the committee voted to stop recommending flu shots containing thimerosal — a preservative linked to neurodevelopmental disorders.
In response, 15 Democratic governors launched the Governors Public Health Alliance last week to coordinate their public health efforts independently of national public health agencies.
Previously, four Western states announced the formation of the West Coast Health Alliance, which aims to issue its own immunization guidelines.
In August, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued “evidence-based” recommendations calling for COVID-19 shots for infants, young children and children in “high-risk” groups. In July, the AAP and five other medical organizations sued Kennedy over new COVID-19 vaccine guidance.
This article was originally published by The Defender — Children’s Health Defense’s News & Views Website under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Please consider subscribing to The Defender or donating to Children’s Health Defense.
Ukraine conflict now belongs to Trump – ex-Russian president
RT | October 23, 2025
The Ukraine conflict has effectively become US President Donald Trump’s war now that he has positioned himself as an adversary of Moscow, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said.
Medvedev, who currently serves as deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, made the comment after Trump scrapped plans for a meeting with President Vladimir Putin and imposed new sanctions on Russian oil companies – measures the US leader described as a means to pressure Moscow into concessions.
Writing on social media on Thursday, Medvedev suggested that Trump’s next move would likely involve approving the delivery of Tomahawk cruise missiles to Kiev, claiming the US president is “now firmly on the warpath against Russia” and “completely aligned with mad Europe” in that regard.
He argued that Trump had likely been pressured by both domestic and international hawks into taking a hardline stance, rather than acting out of ideological conviction as was the case with his predecessor, Joe Biden. “But now it’s his conflict,” Medvedev concluded, adding that Russia must focus on achieving its objectives militarily rather than through negotiations.
Trump has repeatedly blamed Biden for the escalation of hostilities between Moscow and Kiev, insisting that the conflict “would never have happened” had he been in office in 2022.
The US president has a record of abrupt foreign policy reversals, including in his handling of the Ukraine crisis. Hungary, where Trump and Putin had agreed to meet for a new summit, has said that preparations for the meeting remain on track despite the recent tensions.
Window of Opportunity for Peace is Closing
John Mearsheimer, Alexander Mercouris & Glenn Diesen
Glenn Diesen | October 22, 2025
I had the great pleasure of discussing this with John Mearsheimer and Alexander Mercouris on The Duran, how the window of opportunity for a peaceful settlement is closing fast. Zelensky cannot accept the high demands from Russia. The Europeans will oppose any real diplomacy out of fear that peace would be accompanied by European divisions and the departure of the US. Meanwhile, Russia is growing increasingly pessimistic about any possible peace. As the Ukrainian frontlines collapse and Moscow has no trust in NATO, it will likely take all strategic territory that would make Ukraine a threatening frontline state. The successful efforts to sabotage the Budapest meeting may leave us with two options: a strategic defeat for NATO with the collapse in Ukraine, or escalating to a direct NATO-Russia War.
Russia Open for Diplomatic Solutions in Field of Arms Control – Deputy Foreign Minister
Sputnik – 22.10.2025
MOSCOW – Russia is leaving the door open for political and diplomatic solutions in the area of arms control, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Wednesday.
“The most relevant example is our rejection of the moratorium on the deployment of intermediate-range and shorter-range ground-based missiles in light of plans and practical steps to deploy similar weapons of American and other Western production in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. Nevertheless, for the future, we leave the door open for political and diplomatic solutions,” Ryabkov said at a meeting on fundamentals of Russia’s nuclear nonproliferation policy.
If the United States rejects Russia’s proposal on the START Treaty, there will be a total vacuum and an increase in nuclear risks, Ryabkov said, adding that he sees no opportunity for dialogue between Moscow and Washington on nuclear nonproliferation issues right now or resumption of information exchange with the US under the treaty.
Russia will handle everything, even if the US does not accept Russia’s proposal on the START Treaty, and Russia’s security will be guaranteed, Ryabkov said.
Russia must be convinced of the sustainability of the US administration’s rejection of a hostile course towards Moscow.
He further noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s idea on the START Treaty is a limited offer for the United States, designed for a limited time.
“If nothing happens during the year of the moratorium, then we will be able to take a closer look at what to do next. That is all. This is a limited offer designed for a limited amount of time. We hope that it will be accepted,” Ryabkov said at a meeting on fundamentals of Russia’s nuclear non-proliferation policy.
Russia has capabilities and resources to ensure its security, Ryabkov said, adding that Moscow will not allow itself to be drawn into an arms race with the US.
Preparations for Russia-US Summit Continue
Russia continues preparations for a possible summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump, Ryabkov said.
“We are saying that preparations for the summit are ongoing. These could take various forms,” he told reporters.
Russia is focused on substantive aspects of preparations for the summit, the Russian deputy foreign minister added.
“I do not see any significant obstacles [for Putin-Trump meeting]. The question is that the parameters defined by the presidents in Anchorage, those frameworks, should be filled with concrete details. It is a difficult process, admittedly. But that is what diplomats are for,” Ryabkov said.
At the same time, there are no agreements yet on the meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Ryabkov added.
Palestinian activist vows to keep fighting Trump administration’s bid to re-detain him
MEMO | October 22, 2025
Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil accused the Trump administration of seeking to silence pro-Palestine voices by trying to re-detain him, after his attorneys appeared Tuesday before the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia to challenge the legality of his detention, Anadolu reports.
“We just finished a long hearing,” Khalil told reporters outside the court. “I feel confident, of course. The Trump administration is still trying to re-detain me. They’re trying to stop the federal court from looking at my case because they know they don’t have a case against me.”
Khalil, 30, a Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate, is a lawful permanent resident married to a US citizen. He was detained in March without a warrant by immigration officers in New York City and transferred to a detention facility in Louisiana, where he was held for months.
The Trump administration claimed his presence threatened US foreign policy without providing evidence, but a lower court ordered his release on bail in June and barred the government from detaining or deporting him.
“This case is not about Mahmoud Khalil,” he said. “This case is about every single person in this country, whether they are citizens or not — this case is about their freedom of speech and their ability to dissent, and their ability to speak up, especially about Palestine and the genocide that’s happening in Gaza.”
“They want to break me because they want to deport me to be out as soon as possible, so that others would fear speaking out. That’s why I’m continuing to fight,” he added.
Khalil’s legal team appeared before the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, asking judges to uphold lower court rulings that found the government’s actions likely unconstitutional and ordered his release on bail.
His attorney, Ramzi Kassem, co-director of the CLEAR project, said the court heard oral arguments on the government’s appeal challenging both Khalil’s release and the lower court’s decision striking down the administration’s deportation order.
“We’re continuing to press forth — in this court behind me, in the district court in New Jersey, and in immigration court in Louisiana — to vindicate Mahmoud’s constitutional rights and his right to remain here with his family as a lawful permanent resident,” Kassem said.
“What’s at stake is not just his right to speak up in defense of Palestinian human rights and his ability to stay here in this country with his US citizen wife and child, but everyone’s First Amendment rights and due process rights.”
Excessive US demands prevent return to negotiations: Iran FM
Press TV – October 22, 2025
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says Iran will not return to negotiations with the United States so long as Washington continues its policy of excessive demands.
“Until the Americans abandon their excessive and maximalist policy and stop making unreasonable demands of us, we will not return to the negotiating table,” Araghchi told reporters upon arrival at Mashhad’s Hasheminejad Airport on Wednesday, where he was attending a provincial diplomacy conference.
The foreign minister said the previous talks collapsed precisely due to Washington’s overreach.
“The negotiations that were previously underway with the Americans, as well as the New York talks, were stopped and did not progress due to the excessive demands of the American side,” he said, referring to five rounds of nuclear talks before the US-Israeli aggression against Iran in June.
Araghchi said the two sides could also reach a “reasonable, mutually beneficial solution” during the recent annual UN General Assembly meeting in New York, but that opportunity was also lost due to a similar reason.
Araghchi said Iran has consistently demonstrated its commitment to peace and diplomacy, even while facing an adversary unwilling to honor such principles.
“We have shown we are always committed to diplomatic solutions, but this does not mean giving up the rights of the Iranian people.”
“Wherever the interests of the Iranian people and the higher interests of the country can be secured through diplomacy, we have acted. But we are dealing with those who have never adhered to diplomacy,” Araghchi said.
He said Iran recently exchanged messages and contacts with US negotiator Steve Witkoff through intermediaries, but he made it clear that Iran will not re-enter talks unless the US fundamentally changes its approach.
“As long as this spirit exists in negotiations with the Americans, naturally, there is no possibility of returning to negotiations, unless the American approach changes and they accept that negotiations must be based on mutual respect and from equal positions.”
The Iranian minister said Washington’s failed strategies will yield no results. “They have tried other paths and have not succeeded, and if they continue on this path again, they will once more achieve nothing.”
For the first time, Israel and the United States launched large-scale strikes on Iran in June, hitting nuclear and military facilities.
Iran retaliated with missile and drone attacks on the Israeli-occupied territories and a major US military base in Qatar.
US President Donald Trump claimed afterward that Iran was close to producing nuclear bombs, but without providing any proof for his claim. Iran says it does not seek nuclear weapons.
In the previous nuclear talks, the Trump administration repeatedly asked Iran to dismantle its nuclear and missile development infrastructure altogether, a demand Tehran rejects.
Nearly half of Democrats reject AIPAC-backed candidates, poll finds
Al Mayadeen | October 21, 2025
As discontent with “Israel” deepens among Democratic voters after more than two years of genocide in Gaza, a new internal poll suggests that financial support from the pro-“Israel” lobby may now be a liability rather than an asset for Democrats competing in primary races.
The survey, conducted by Democratic firm Upswing Strategies, polled 850 registered Democratic voters across competitive congressional districts in Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania. Participants were asked about their views on the “Israel”-Palestine struggle and their perceptions of lobbying groups such as the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
AIPAC, one of Washington’s most powerful lobbying groups, backed 152 Democratic candidates during the 2024 elections, spending more than $28 million, and played a significant role in unseating several progressive lawmakers, including former Representatives Cori Bush of Missouri and Jamaal Bowman of New York.
48% of Democratic voters ‘could never support’ AIPAC-funded congressional candidate
According to the Upswing poll, nearly half of Democratic voters (48%) in these battleground districts said they “could never support” a congressional candidate funded by AIPAC or similar pro-“Israel” organizations. More than a quarter (28%) expressed this view strongly. By contrast, only 40% said they “could see” themselves supporting a candidate linked to AIPAC if they agreed with their positions on other issues, though only 10% felt that way strongly.
The poll’s findings, shared on social media by Illinois reporter Matthew Eadie of Evanston Now, have reportedly circulated among Democratic campaign operatives in multiple competitive districts since early September. Eadie noted that the results are “circulating among Democrats in over a half-dozen competitive primaries in mostly Illinois.”
With Senator Dick Durbin’s seat opening in 2026, several Illinois representatives are expected to run, setting off a scramble for their House seats, including some who have enjoyed long-standing support from pro-“Israel” donors. Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, for instance, received more than $63,000 from pro-“Israel” groups in the 2023–24 cycle and roughly $269,000 since his first campaign in 2016. Representative Robin Kelly has taken in about $109,000 from such groups since 2012.
Half a century of political norms unravels before our eyes
Pro-“Israel” organizations are also expected to once again target the Chicago-based district of Representative Danny Davis, who has repeatedly faced primary challenges from progressive activist Kina Collins. During the 2024 race, AIPAC’s affiliated political action committee, the United Democracy Project, spent roughly half a million dollars on ads attacking Collins, who had described “Israel’s” blockade of Gaza as a “war crime”.
Another Illinois progressive, Representative Delia Ramirez, who has called “Israel’s” campaign in Gaza a “genocide” and introduced legislation to suspend US military aid to “Israel”, was the target of over $157,000 in digital ads and mailers from the Democratic Majority for “Israel” in 2022. However, by 2024, pro-“Israel” groups opted not to challenge her re-election bid, calculating that her local support base was too strong.
Similar dynamics are unfolding beyond Illinois. Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, a long-time AIPAC target, faced no major challenge in 2024 due to her enduring popularity. Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania, Representative Haley Stevens, one of the House’s most outspoken defenders of “Israel”, received more than $5.4 million from AIPAC and allied groups in 2024 to help defeat progressive Jewish incumbent Andy Levin, whom AIPAC’s former president once labeled “the most corrosive member of Congress to the US-Israel relationship.”
Although Upswing’s data did not specify district-level results, the findings point to a significant mood shift among Democratic voters. In an era defined by “Israel’s” genocide in Gaza, support from the “Israel” lobby appears increasingly out of step with the Democratic base. The changing tide was illustrated recently by Representative Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, who announced he would return AIPAC donations, saying, “I’m a friend of Israel, but not of its current government, and AIPAC’s mission is to back that government.”
The poll also reinforced broader trends showing a collapse in sympathy for “Israel” among Democrats. Respondents expressed overwhelmingly positive views of Palestine and international organizations such as the United Nations and Doctors Without Borders, while describing “Israel” and its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in sharply negative terms.
While issues like accountability for President Donald Trump and cost-of-living concerns remained top priorities, 53% of Democratic voters rated “putting pressure on the Israeli government to end the humanitarian crisis in Gaza” as a 10 out of 10 in importance, and 72% rated it at least an 8.
Peter Beinart, editor-at-large of Jewish Currents, summarized the shift bluntly, saying, “It’s astonishing how quickly the politics are moving.” He added that Democrats “don’t fear AIPAC. They fear being associated with AIPAC. The political rules of the last almost half-century are changing before our eyes.”
Rick Sanchez: War Propaganda & Suffocating Censorship Weaken the West
Glenn Diesen | October 19, 2025
Award-winning journalist Rick Sanchez has worked for CNN, MSNBC, Fox News and RT, which gives him a unique perspective on the Western and Russian media. Sanchez outlines how the war propaganda and rise of censorship across the West prevent us from pursuing rational policies.
Tylenol: From Painkiller to Empathy Killer
Why America’s most trusted drug may be quietly numbing our humanity
By Sayer Ji | September 24, 2025
Last week’s historic announcement from HHS and President Trump connecting Tylenol use with the autism epidemic reignited longstanding concerns over Tylenol’s toxicity. For decades, the focus has been on liver damage and accidental overdoses. But the deeper story—the one still hiding in plain sight—is more disturbing: even a single dose of acetaminophen (Tylenol’s active ingredient) measurably blunts human empathy, dulls positive emotions, and increases risk-taking behavior.
This isn’t just a matter of personal health. It’s a social and spiritual crisis. If one-quarter of U.S. adults are taking Tylenol weekly, we may be medicating away our collective capacity for compassion.
The Research That Changes Everything
In a landmark 2015 Psychological Science study, titled “Over-the-Counter Relief From Pains and Pleasures Alike,” researchers at Ohio State University gave healthy adults a single standard 1,000 mg dose of acetaminophen (Tylenol) and then exposed them to emotionally charged images—ranging from disturbing to uplifting.
The outcome was unambiguous:
- Disturbing images were rated less negatively.
- Uplifting images were rated less positively.
- Across the board, participants reported feeling less emotional arousal, even when viewing the most extreme stimuli.
Brain research helps explain why: acetaminophen dampens activity in the anterior insula and anterior cingulate cortex—regions responsible for processing both physical pain and emotional resonance. These are the same circuits that allow us to feel empathy and to be moved by joy, awe, or sorrownihms703262.
The authors concluded:
“Acetaminophen attenuates individuals’ evaluations and emotional reactions to negative and positive stimuli alike… Rather than being labeled merely a pain reliever, acetaminophen might be better described as an all-purpose emotion reliever.”
2. Tylenol Reduces Empathy for Others’ Suffering
In 2016, researchers at Ohio State University published a Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience study titled “From Painkiller to Empathy Killer” (Mischkowski, Crocker, & Way, 2016). Participants who took a standard 1,000 mg dose of acetaminophen showed significantly reduced empathic concern when reading scenarios of people experiencing social or physical pain compared to those on placebo.
Neuroimaging explained why: acetaminophen dampened activity in the anterior insula and anterior cingulate cortex—the same brain regions that fire when we experience physical pain ourselves and when we empathize with the pain of others. In effect, Tylenol blunts the shared circuitry of compassion.
The story didn’t end there. In 2019, another study in Frontiers in Psychology confirmed the effect for positive empathy—our ability to share in others’ happiness (Randles, Harms, & Finn, 2019). After taking acetaminophen, participants reported less joy when hearing about others’ uplifting experiences. The researchers warned:
“Acetaminophen reduces affective reactivity to others’ positive experiences. Because positive empathy underlies prosocial behavior, this raises concern about the societal impact of excessive acetaminophen use.”
The Implication: Tylenol doesn’t just ease your headache—it quietly severs the neural bridges of human connection, dulling both our sensitivity to suffering and our capacity to celebrate joy with others.
3. Tylenol Increases Risk-Taking
In 2020, Baldwin Way and colleagues at Ohio State published a Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience paper showing that acetaminophen (Tylenol) not only blunts empathy but also alters how people perceive risk.
In a series of experiments:
- 189 college students were randomly given either 1,000 mg of acetaminophen or placebo. They then rated the danger of activities like bungee jumping, walking alone at night in unsafe areas, or having unprotected sex.
- Those who had taken acetaminophen consistently judged these behaviors as less risky.
- In a second test, 545 students performed the “balloon analogue risk task,” where participants inflate a virtual balloon to earn money, knowing it might burst. The Tylenol group pumped the balloons significantly more times, resulting in more bursts and more losses—clear evidence of blunted fear of negative consequences
The mechanism seems to mirror acetaminophen’s emotional numbing effects: by dulling negative affect, the drug also dulls the anxiety signals that normally restrain risky behavior.
The scale of exposure is staggering. Around 52 million Americans take acetaminophen every week. Even slight shifts in how people evaluate risk, magnified across such widespread use, could ripple through society—affecting decisions from health and safety to finances, relationships, and beyond.
The Implication: Tylenol doesn’t just dull pain and empathy. It can tip the scales of judgment itself, making dangerous choices feel less threatening. Multiply this by millions of daily users, and the “safe, everyday painkiller” becomes a silent force reshaping collective behavior.
The Numbers Don’t Lie
- ¼ of American adults use Tylenol weekly.
- 600+ medications contain acetaminophen, from cold remedies to prescription opioids
- 110,000 injuries and deaths per year are linked to acetaminophen
- Empathy reduction is measurable after a single dose
This is not a fringe concern. It is a public health crisis with spiritual dimensions.
The Deeper Question
What happens to a society when its most common drug blunts compassion, dulls joy, and fuels reckless risk-taking?
We are not just facing an epidemic of liver toxicity. We are facing a subtle epidemic of soul toxicity. Tylenol, in numbing pain, may be numbing our humanity itself.
The time has come to ask: Is the cost of convenience worth the erosion of empathy?
Learn more about Tylenol’s long established risks in our series below :
Broken Trust: The Tylenol Cover-Up That May Have Damaged Millions of Children
Part I: Breaking: Government Finally Admits Tylenol-Autism Link After Years of Corporate Cover-Up
Part II Tylenol and Autism, Part II: The Swedish Study That Got It Wrong
Part III: Broken Trust: The Tylenol Cover-Up That May Have Damaged Millions of Children
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From the Archives
UK Researchers: Tax Food to Reduce Climate Change
I doubt these professors have anything to fear from a food tax
By Eric Worrall | Watts Up With That? | November 19, 2016
A group of researchers in Oxford University, England have suggested that imposing a massive tax on carbon intensive foods – specifically protein rich foods like meat and dairy – could help combat climate change. […]
This proposal, from a group of people who have probably never missed a meal in their lives, is totally obscene. High income countries often have a lot of poor people who would be hard hit by increases in the price of food.
Needlessly exacerbating the risk poor people don’t get enough to eat, especially children and pregnant mothers, who are especially vulnerable to adverse health impacts from lack of protein in their diet – if this ghastly proposal is ever implemented, future generations will look upon it as a crime against humanity. – Read full article
Blog Roll
Aletho News- Seyed M. Marandi: Trump Lost the Iran War – Must Sell It as a Victory
- Iran, Saudi FMs hold phone talks as Persian Gulf states rethink US ties
- The Illusions of Western Virtue: Ursula von der Leyen and Europe’s Moral Bankruptcy
- AIPAC-backed candidates lose New York primaries as voters reject pro-genocide lobby
- The West’s Post-Soviet ‘Democracy’ Playbook
- UK suppressed intel on Sudan genocide to protect UAE ties: Report
- Starmer’s exit exposes dirty secret: UK can’t afford Ukraine War
- Putin Warns the West: Russia Is Ready
- BEN-GVIR: “ALL OF LEBANON MUST BURN” — w/ Mouin Rabbani
- There Are No Budget Constraints In New York City: “Coastal Resiliency” Edition
- If Americans Knew
- Israel’s Attacks on Gaza’s Children (Photos)
- ‘His only crime is that he is a Palestinian doctor’
- ‘Killed pursuing her dream’: Gaza girl on her way to school dies in Israeli drone strike
- Unbelievable pressure on Gaza from Israel, “Board of Peace” – Daily Update
- UN: Israel Continues to Commit Genocide and Other Atrocity Crimes by Deliberately Targeting Palestinian Children
- Bari Weiss, Free-Speech Fraud & Zionism Promoter, Would Rather Deport Than Debate
- ‘Doctor of the Poor’: Israeli Occupation Arrests Prominent Palestinian Physician
- Search for Your Church (and see if it has been targeted by the Israeli gov’t)
- Mark Levin Flying to Israel as Netanyahu Reportedly Seeks to ‘Leverage’ Levin to Trash Trump’s Iran Deal
- Watch: Zionist Brags about Israel’s Power to Get the World to Do What Israel Wants
- No Tricks Zone
- 3 New Studies Find Increasing Trends In Solar Radiation Since The 1980s – Easily Explaining Warming
- THE TRANSCEIVER PARADOX: Why Organoid Intelligence (OI) Could Become Our Ultimate Alien Predator
- German Wind Turbines Face Regulatory Shutdown Due To Excessive Noise
- New Study: Chile’s Relative Sea Level Was 3.2 Meters Higher Than Today During The Mid-Holocene
- Beyond The Pitch: Why FIFA’s World Cup Is One Of Humanity’s Best Investments
- Climate Alarmists Now Using Natural Phenomena To Support Their Claims
- New Study: Significant CO2 Fluxes From Non-Volcanic Sources Are Largely Neglected In Carbon Budgets
- Women Climate Scientists Being Harassed, Insulted By Skeptics, Claims Berkeley Earth Researcher
- Germany’s Longterm Spring Climate Data Show “No Climate Trend”
- New Study: Solar Photovoltaic, Wind Power Fail To Meet Annual Energy Demands 62% Of The Time
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