FDA Panel advises banning Vicodin, Percocet

Friday, July 3rd, 2009

A special advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration recommended Tuesday that Vicodin and Percocet—two prescription pain-killers that combine acetominophen with narcotics—should be banned. The panel noted that prolonged use of aceominophen, which is the primary ingredient in Tylenol, causes liver damage in many patients and further recommended that at least seven other medications that combine acetominophen with narcotics should have their use discontinued.

Doctors would still be allowed to prescribe the narcotics, which include oxycodone (found in Percocet) and hydrocodone (found in Vicodin). They would further be allowed to prescribe acetominophen if they wished, but many doctors are already reluctant to prescribe medications that combine acetominophen with narcotics because of its known toxicity to the liver.

In fact, the same panel voted 24 to 13 to recommend that the FDA reduce the highest allowed dose of acetaminophen in over-the-counter pills such as Tylenol to 325 milligrams, from the currently allowed 500 mg. They further voted 21 to 16 to reduce the maximum daily dosage of the drug to less than 4,000 mg.
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Food safety bill passes House the day after it was defeated

Thursday, July 30th, 2009

In what came as a surprise move, the House passed a sweeping food safety reform bill a day after defeating a previous version. House Democrats kept revising the bill until they got it right. The previous version would have placed onerous burdens on small farmers and small food producers.

The version that passed the House today exempted these groups so long as they are selling their good directly to consumers, retailers and restaurants. When selling to wholesalers, however, they are covered by the same rules and restrictions as larger producers. That is, they are required to pay an annual $500 registration fee and to maintain a track-back system that identifies lots of food and their origins.

If passed by the Senate, the bill would require all facilities to have a food safety plan in place, would give the Food and Drug Administration the power to order food recalls, and would expand FDA access to company records.

Supporters of the bill say it will enable the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to prevent food contamination through increased inspection of large food-preparation facilities. More than 76 million Americans fall sick every year from food-borne illnesses, while 5,000 of those die.

Under the bill, inspections would take place every six to 12 months at high-risk facilities and every three years at lower-risk plants.

Currently, plants may go years without an inspection.


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