The Evils of Paracetamol..
Posted on: 01 July, 2009 | Filed under: news
In a recent statement, the Therapeutic Goods Association says it will review its regulations that allow 4000 milligrams of paracetamol to be taken by adults each day and permit a single dose of 1000 milligrams to be sold over the counter.
This comes after US regulators were warned of the risk of liver failure and fatal overdose.
An independent panel of advisers to the US Food and Drug Administration this week voted in favour of a ban on medications that combine paracetamol and an opioid, such as Vicodin (paracetamol with hydrocodone) and Percocet (paracetamol with oxycodone). It also recommended lowering the maximum single adult dose of paracetamol to 650 milligrams.
Paracetamol has been used in Australia to relieve pain and fever for 60 years. It is sold under brand names such as Panadol and Herron.
In the US, billions of doses of paracetamol are used every year. But paracetamol-related overdoses cause 56,000 emergency room visits, 26,000 hospitalizations, and 458 deaths annually, according to studies done between 1990 and 1998.
With the drug companies now pushing sales of these dangerous drugs to treat innocent infants, it is every parent's responsibility to realise that there are alternatives available to manage pain and fever safely.