Restrictions on paracetamol sales introduced in September, 1998, have apparently reduced paracetamol overdoses.
At the Freeman hospital, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the median number of monthly referrals to its liver unit as a result of paracetamol overdosage fell from 2.5 before the restrictions were introduced to one afterwards. The median number of monthly referrals to the United Kingdom Transplant Special Support Authority fell from 3.5 to 2.
Writing in the Lancet for June 10 (p2047), the authors of the Newcastle study attribute the fall to the reduction in the number of paracetamol tablets in individual packs because increased awareness of the danger of paracetamol poisoning does not deter its use.
The authors of a similar study at London's Royal Free hospital (Lancet, June 10, p2049), report that the introduction of blister packs of a maximum of 16 paracetamol tablets was associated with a 21 per cent reduction in all paracetamol overdoses and a 64 per cent reduction in severe overdoses.
The Paracetamol Information Centre, a lobby group funded by manufacturers of paracetamol-containing products, has a website at www.pharmweb.net/paracetamol.html.