Media paracetamol article.

[Sept 2008 NZ Letter by Hilary Butler]

Media paracetamol article.

Hilary Butler,

25 Harrisville Road,

Tuakau 2121,

New Zealand.

092368990.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/health/new...ectid=10533009 Dear Sir, Professor Robin Taylor said in the Herald today, that the benefits ofgiving children paracetamol when they are sick, may strongly outweigh anypotential risks. That statement is unethical, and a nonsense. The medical literature shows consistently, that the use of paracetamolduring sickness, not only worsens the actual disease, but increases thedeath rate. Some doctors suggest that the fact that people use paracetamolduring illness is an indicator of illness severity, therefore the worseningof disease, and increase in deaths is an inaccurate observation. That isnot true. The medical literature over the last 20 years has proven that theuse of paracetamol in fevers and during illness is irresponsible, andpotentially dangerous. The WHO says there is no evidence to show that theuse of paracetamol in infections is beneficial. The Australian Prescriber,summarizes why paracetamol used during infections is detrimental. I attach the following documents: 1) 2 WHO articles2) Australian Prescriber3) A letter IAS sent to Pfizer in 2004 detailing literature showingparacetamol used during illness is potentially dangerous. Pfizer threatenedto sue IAS as a result of statements made pointing out the association ofthe use of paracetamol with serious meningitis (I attach that study aswell). It is interesting that following this letter to Pfizer, and two morefollow ups, Pfizer chose to silently drop it's legal threats, rather thanplay out their "power games" in the public arena.4) Three medical 1 2 3 articles published since 2000 showing theassociation of paracetamol use with development of allergies and asthma. I look forward to the day when the medical profession has the courage tostate in public that the current New Zealand rate of use of paracetamol isunacceptable and irresponsible, and that there is no place to continue theautomatic use of paracetamol in young babies, during fever, illness or othernon-life-threatening conditions. No parents who realized that the single most preventable cause of asthma inthis country was the current excessive use of paracetamol, would continuebeing an accomplice to the large increase in the numbers of New Zealandchildren having to medicate lifelong asthma. Please ask your journalists to do some in-depth medical research on thisissue. Sincerely, Hilary Butler.

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