Safety Squandered

[Guest guest]

" HSI - Jenny Thompson " <hsiresearch

HSI e-Alert - Safety Squandered

Thu, 23 Feb 2006 06:50:00 -0500

 

 

 

 

HSI e-Alert - Safety Squandered

 

Health Sciences Institute e-Alert

****************************************************

February 23, 2006

 

 

Dear Reader,

 

I could hardly believe my ears. At a recent work function, a colleague

asked me if I'd heard about a plan to combine acetaminophen with an

antidote to prevent acetaminophen overdose. I'd heard nothing about

this, but we both agreed it sounded like an idea whose time was well

overdue.

 

As I've noted in several e-Alerts (most recently in " Safety Measured "

12/29/05), the FDA estimates that there are more than 14,000

unintentional overdoses of acetaminophen every year, with about 100 of

those cases resulting in death. Acetaminophen is the active ingredient

in more than 200 over-the-counter painkillers, fever-reducers and cold

medicines, including Tylenol.

 

When my colleague e-mailed the information she'd found in New

Scientist magazine, I was in for another surprise. It stated that the

British Technology Group (BTG) had spent five years unsuccessfully

trying to make the new drug combo available. Then I checked the date

of the article: 1990.

 

-----------

Coaxing the enzyme

-----------

 

Amazing but true: For two decades, a safer, potentially life-saving

form of acetaminophen has been ready for market. The New Scientist

article states that BTG scientists combined paracetamol (the UK name

for acetaminophen) with an amino acid that acts as an antidote for

paracetamol poisoning.

 

Hmm. An amino acid? That wouldn't by any chance be N-acetylcysteine

(NAC), would it? As I've mentioned in other e-Alerts, NAC is an amino

acid that stimulates production of glutathione, a potent antioxidant

enzyme that provides excellent protection against toxicity in the

liver. Studies have shown that NAC is an effective antidote for

acetaminophen poisoning.

 

After doing a little digging, I found some more detailed information

in a BTG annual report from 2004. That year, BTG completed a license

agreement for a product called Paradote, a painkiller (available only

in the UK) that combines paracetamol with methionine, an amino acid.

The report reads: " The presence of methionine maintains glutathione

levels in the liver, which helps minimize liver damage if an otherwise

fatal overdose is taken. "

 

It's not NAC, but apparently close enough.

 

-----------

Okay...now what?

-----------

 

So why did it take this product the better part of 20 years to finally

break through to the marketplace? One word: expense.

 

According to an analysis in QJM: An International Journal of Medicine,

the cost of Paradote is more than six times higher than generic

acetaminophen. So put the two products on the shelf, side-by-side, and

not many people are going to choose the safer, more expensive product.

 

Also, as I mentioned above, more than 200 over-the-counter medications

contain acetaminophen, and most overdoses occur when two or three of

these medications are used at the same time. Given the extra expense,

it's unlikely that drug manufacturers would produce Paradote formulas

for all these drugs.

 

But even though we're a long way from a simple antidote-added solution

to the acetaminophen overdose problem, there is a way that Paradote

might be put to good use: by stocking the drug in hospitals.

 

In the e-Alert " Flick of the Wrist " (1/19/04), I told you about a

young Philadelphia man named Marcus Trunk who took acetaminophen for

several days in 1995 after spraining his wrist. When he developed a

fever and began vomiting, he went to a hospital emergency room where

doctors thought he had the flu and gave him further doses of

acetaminophen. Within a week, Marcus died of liver failure caused by

acetaminophen overdose.

 

If hospitals maintained supplies of Paradote, they could give it to

patients instead of acetaminophen to avoid unintentional overdoses.

There's no way of knowing, of course, if this would have saved Marcus

Trunk's life, but it certainly could have given him a better chance.

 

You can find more information about acetaminophen dangers at the web

site maintained by Marcus Trunk's family: drug-warning.org.

 

 

 

****************************************************

 

....and another thing

 

You might want to file this one under " Things I wish I didn't know. "

 

Jasmine Roberts is a 12-year-old student at Benito Middle School in

Tampa, Florida, where she recently took the top honor at her school's

science fair. Her project: ice safety.

 

Jasmine dropped by five fast food restaurants where she collected

samples of ice used in soft drinks. In each restaurant, she also

collected samples of toilet water.

 

If you think you already know where this is going, you're right.

 

When Jasmine tested the samples at a local cancer lab where she does

volunteer work, she found that the ice samples were contaminated with

more bacteria than the toilet water in four of the five sample sets.

 

Wait. It gets worse.

 

Three of the five ice samples contained fecal coliform (E. coli).

 

In a Tampa Tribune article about Jasmine's project, a lab technician

who tests drinking water noted that the amount of bacteria in

Jasmine's ice samples was well below the acceptable maximum level for

drinking water. HOWEVER, the lab tech added that the acceptable level

of fecal coliform is zero. " If you find that, " she said, " You've got a

problem. "

 

So! How about a nice hot cocoa with that burger?

 

To Your Good Health,

 

Jenny Thompson

 

 

 

****************************************************

 

Tap into the minds of other health-conscious readers like yourself at

the new HSI health forum: http://www.healthiertalk.com

 

Sources:

" Tragedy Highlights Case for New Paracetamol Drug " Barry Fox, New

Scientist, 7/28/90, newscientist.com

" BTG Annual Report & Accounts 2004 " btgplc.com

" Paracetamol Toxicity: Epidemiology, Prevention and Costs to the

Health-Care System " QJM: An International Journal of Medicine, Vol.

99, No. 5, 2002, qumed.oxfordjournals.org

" Girl's Science Project May Make You Rethink that Drink Order " Michele

Sager, The Tampa Tribune, 2/15/06, msnbc.msn.com

 

*****************