Suggestions that there may be a link between autism and a widely-used painkiller have been played down by a leading expert.

A study recently published in a medical journal had raised concerns that young boys whose mothers had regularly taken paracetamol during pregnancy had a greater chance of developing the disorder.

However, Dr James Cusack, the director of science at the British autism charity Autistica, has said that there is insufficient proof to back up the suggestion.

“This paper does not provide sufficient evidence to support the claim that there is a strong association between paracetamol use and the presentation of symptoms of autism,” Dr Cusack said last week.

“The results presented are preliminary in their nature, and so should not concern families or pregnant women.”

The research was first published in the Journal of Epidemiology and was based on a study conducted in Spain.

Dr Cusack was quick to point out that there had previously been a number of cases of certain environmental factors being linked to a greater risk of autism, only for the theories to be rejected at a later date.

He added that this made it all the more important that sufficient evidence was gathered before any such claims were made public, to avoid causing unnecessary panic.