Thursday, March 30, 2006

Tylenol and safety

According to an article in the April 2006 issue of Vegetarian Times, Tylenol and its clones (acetaminophen) now accounts for 42% of the nation's cases of sudden acute liver failure. As reported in the December 2005 issue of Hepatology, 253 Americans overdosed on the painkiller by either taking over the recommended dosage, or due to an interaction with other medications.
While half of these were suicide attempts, the other half were accidental.
Britain stopped selling Tylenol in packages of 500, the largest package is a blister card of 24. This change has reduced the number of liver transplants, overdoses, and liver related deaths by 30%.

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