Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Paracetomol dangers

Paracetamol is one of the world’s most popular painkillers – and it is also far more dangerous than the millions who take it realize. It kills around 450 people in the USA and around 120 in the UK every year.

The American drug regulator, the Food and Drug Administration, is so concerned that it is considering restricting the drug’s availability, an action that has already been taken in Ireland.

There, it is illegal to buy more than 24 tablets, or 500 mg, in a single transaction. Despite this, it was responsible for nearly a third of all the 7,933 drug overdoses recorded in Ireland in 2004.

The drug can become dangerous at even relatively low dosages, and can cause serious – and sometimes fatal – liver damage.

(Source: The Lancet, 2007; 369: 1346).

Thanks to Lynne McTaggart and her newsletter What Doctors Don't Tell You

Highly recommended newsletter!

2 comments:

lovette said...

Paracetamols are known to be safe for pregnant women. If this is so that it is dangerous, could it be safe to use it now a days?

Shazar said...

well lovette.. this is a study done by Lancet.. so I wouldn't take it if I was pregnant! but it doesn't say you or your baby were harmed.. I would suggest that it adds to your toxic load and would create some sort of stress for you.