Figures obtained by the ABC show an overwhelming over-representation of women and young girls using it to deliberately hurt themselves.
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00:00The Therapeutic Goods Administration, through various means, had discovered there was this
00:07increasing problem of paracetamol poisoning in young women, teenage girls effectively,
00:14female adolescents.
00:16And this was quite a surprising rise at that time.
00:21So over the 10 years up to about 2018, rates had doubled.
00:26And that's when they started thinking this is a bit of a problem, and they commissioned
00:30a report.
00:31Actually, since then, with COVID, in the youngest age group of teenagers, these rates have then
00:38tripled again.
00:40So now sixfold higher at the end of the COVID shutdown period than it had been in 2012.
00:48Wow, that's quite alarming.
00:51That's quite alarming numbers there.
00:52Now, your report made a number of recommendations, which included reducing the size of packs
00:58of paracetamol and also limiting the number of packs that can be purchased in one transaction.
01:03In light of those, do you think the current proposed restrictions are in line with the
01:07recommendations in the report?
01:09Well, actually, our report didn't say, you know, you have to do this.
01:14It essentially presented a suite of options to the government about what they could do
01:20about it.
01:21And then they selected which ones they thought were acceptable in the light of the need for
01:27people to keep taking painkillers and for legitimate reasons.
01:33And so it's always a trade-off, but our report was really summarising what the evidence had
01:38said might make a difference, and that included pack size restrictions, it included limiting
01:44packs, it included an age limit, and it included making modified release paracetamol prescription
01:51only.
01:52And the government selected some of those options, and I guess we'll see if that's sufficient
01:58with time.
02:00I guess many of our viewers watching this will be wondering how it affects them.
02:04You know, will this make it more difficult for someone with a headache to go and purchase
02:10paracetamol at the chemist?
02:12What would you say to them?
02:13Well, it'll make no difference to them whatsoever.
02:16So if you're occasionally taking paracetamol, what this means is when you go into a supermarket,
02:22you'll be able to buy a packet of 16.
02:23You can go into a pharmacy and just buy a packet of 24.
02:27If you ask the pharmacist, you can get larger packs.
02:34So it's really that simple.
02:37And just briefly, on the overdosing on paracetamol, I mean, how safe is paracetamol if you're
02:44using it correctly, if you're taking the dosage that's recommended?
02:47Do people need to be worried about accidental overdosing at all?
02:52Generally, paracetamol is very safe as a regular medicine or an occasional medicine.
02:59People taking therapeutic doses rarely get into trouble.
03:02We do see people who get into trouble where they overdose without trying to harm themselves,
03:08like they have a headache that won't stop.
03:10And so they just keep taking more and more.
03:13Those people can certainly get into harm.
03:15But if you're taking the recommended doses, there's pretty much no chance of getting into
03:20any trouble.
03:21OK, Nicholas Buckley, Toxicologist.
03:23Don't Google it.
03:24Don't Google it.
03:25Don't ask AI about this.
03:26It'll probably give you the wrong answer.
03:27Oh, AI will always tell you the worst possible thing.
03:31Do not use it as a doctor.
03:32Very good advice.
03:34Nicholas Buckley, Toxicologist with Sydney University.
03:36Thank you so much for that.