ASPIRINS IN THE HOUSE
Not recommended any more?
Authorities are now considering restricting the popular painkiller
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is considering removing aspirin from the list of medicines that households are recommended to keep handy. The proposal will be high on the agenda when the FDA subcommittee that reviews the formulations of modern medicines meets on August 24. "We are going to review aspirin instructions, contraindications and packaging. We believe grocery stores and supermarkets should stop selling aspirin packs," FDA secretary-general Dr Pakdee Pothisir said yesterday. He said the FDA had already sent letters advising drug manufacturers to prepare for the possibility of their licences to produce aspirin-containing formulation in packets [for over-the-counter sale] being revoked. The FDA move follows caretaker Public Health Minister Pinij Charusombat's concerns about the side-effects of aspirin in children after the death of a nine-year-old girl in Lop Buri that was partially attributed to Reye's Syndrome, which is strongly linked to the improper use of aspirin. The FDA has already sent a circular to the Drug Stores Club of Thailand asking that pharmacies stop selling aspirin for use as an antipyretic in children, Pakdee said. Also, more than 700,000 public-health volunteers are educating the public on the proper use of medicines, with an emphasis on aspirin's side effects, he said. In his capacity as the chairman of the Pharmacy Council, Pakdee also voiced concern that many Thais spent unnecessarily on medicines due to ignorance or wrong advice. "They have become too dependent on medicines and doctors," the council's spokesman, Kata Bandhittanukool, said. Kata said these people tended to take antibiotics or aspirin when they did not really need such medicines. These medicines, if wrongly used, can be detrimental to health, he said. Relevant organisations will organise activities under the theme "Good health with moderate use of medicines" in Bangkok between August 30 and September 3. Similar activities will be held simultaneously in Ubon Ratchathani, Khon Kaen, Songkhla and Chiang Mai.
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