Are representations re Astodrimer for BV now approved, page-10

The TGA has moved to restrict the amount of paracetamol that can be purchased by reducing packet contents. Of course the drug is not controlled in any way so there are no restrictions on buying from multiple sources.

Paracetamol deaths have increased to about 2 per million per annum (50 Australians per year), and most of them knew what they were doing.

This is an extract from a report from Dydney University.

Accidental vs intentional overdosing

Overdoses can be either accidental or intentional, and our figures include both.

Paracetamol is not a drug people become addicted to, or dependent on, in the same way people do with opioids or other drugs.

Intentional poisonings occur when people knowingly take too much paracetamol as a form of self-harm. In our research, about three-quarters of cases were intentional.

Dosing mistakes can occur when parents are giving paracetamol to their children.
People might accidentally overdose because they are in pain, and believe because paracetamol is so widely available, it must be safe. They take more than the recommended dose, or take multiple different paracetamol-containing products together, resulting in harm.

Poisons centres also receive calls about children having too much paracetamol, usually due to dosing errors or a child finding and ingesting the medicine.

This is typical of the nanny attitude within the TGA. Reducing the amount of paracetamol in a packet is doing something, however ineffective this might be. Just like refusing to allow advertising of Fleurstat to discourage self treatment.

How much better to treat the population as responsible adults, with appropriate warning on packets.