HC Deb 16 October 1996 vol 282 cc1041-2W
Mr. Flynn

To ask the Secretary of State for Health under what names drugs containing paracetamol are marketed; and what is its concentration in each. [40609]

Mr. Malone

A list of the names of the 490 products containing paracetamol currently authorised for marketing, together with the content of paracetamol in each, will be placed in the Library.

Mr. Flynn

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what is his most recent calculation of the total number of deaths that have been(a) associated with. and (b) attributed to, paracetamol use in each of the past seven years for which records are available. [40606]

Mr. Malone

The number of deaths associated with paracetamol in 1993,1994 and 1995 reported to the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys—the Office for National Statistics from 1 April 1996 following a merger with the Central Statistical Office—is shown in the table. The data for 1989 to 1992 are published, for each year separately, in table 10 of "Mortality statistics:injury and poisoning, England and Wales", series DH4, Nos. 16–18, copies of which are available in the Library.

For the number of deaths attributed to paracetamol use in the past six years, reported to the Committee on Safety of Medicines, I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave him on 12 February 1996, Official Report, column 462. For the year 1989, no fatal reports associated with the use of paracetamol were received by the Committee on Safety of Medicines.

1993 1994 1995
Deaths by poisoning—accident 86(27) 94(26) 111(27)
Paracetamol only 44(9) 40(10) 41(6)
Paracetamol with other drugs1 42(18) 54(16) 70(21)
Deaths by poisoning-suicide 236(42) 212(25) 239(19)
Paracetamol only 67(7)) 68(5) 77(2)
Paracetamol with other drugs1 169(35) 144(20) 162(17)
1993 1994 1995
Deaths by poisoning— undetermined 130(25) 147(27) 218(30)
Paracetamol only 62(6) 52(5) 72(1)
Paracetamol with other drugs1 68(19) 95(22) 146(29)
1 These include deaths from paracetamol-containing compounds. The figures in brackets include indicate the number of deaths with a mention of alcohol. These bracketed figures are already include in the unbracketed data and should not, therefore, be added to them.