Take care with children’s painkillers Bristol parents warned

Bristol parents are being warned to exercise care when administering painkillers to their children.

Bristol City Council’s Trading Standards, are urging retailers and customers to take ‘special’ care when using and storing medicine.

Under current guidelines issued by the Medicines Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, retailers should not sell more than two packets of painkillers at a time. 

The guidelines were introduced to help cut down on the the risk of overdoses.

Trading Standards are working with the Avonsafe Safety Partnership.

They are following up the results of a survey which looked into the supply of painkillers by retailers in the Bristol region.

Statistics show that 450 children were take to a Bristol casualty department in 2010 suffering from accidental poisoning.

Avonsafe is urging parents to avoid this possibility by storing products containing aspirin and paracetamol safely.

Chair of Avonsafe Bristol, Angela Clarke said:  “Young children can easily take too much if they get hold of pills and the sweet tasting liquids they like the taste of. We may all underestimate the hazard posed by common painkillers. They are safe and effective in the stated dose, but we need to lock them away safely immediately after purchase and use and never keep them in handbags or anywhere children can find them”.
 
Bristol Trading Standards Officers found stores in Bristol who were unaware that cold remedies including Beechams powders, Lemsip and Calpol contained painkillers.

Principal Trading Standards Officer,  Phil Parkyn said: “Shockingly our officers found that 50 per cent of stores visited sold more than the recommended number of packs with one premise supplying 8 packs containing a total of 128 tablets. More than enough to cause serious liver damage or death.”