VOA慢速英语 专家要求禁止广泛使用止痛药

　　Experts Urge Limits on Widely Used Pain Drug

　　专家要求禁止广泛使用止痛药

　　This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

　　The United States government might place new restrictions on a commonly used painkiller. Taking too much acetaminophen can cause liver damage and even death. Last week, a group of experts advised the Food and Drug Administration that the drug needs more controls and better directions for use. Acetaminophen, also called paracetamol, is found in Tylenol, Excedrin and other products that do not require a doctor's prescription. These products are used for pain, fever, colds and sleeplessness. Their easy availability is part of the problem. People can accidentally take too much acetaminophen if they take several medicines that all contain it.

　　The experts recommended reducing the largest non-prescription dose of acetaminophen from one thousand milligrams. They said that is too much. They said adults should not take more than six hundred fifty milligrams at a time. The experts also said people should take less than four thousand milligrams of acetaminophen in a single day. Acetaminophen overdose is a leading cause of liver damage in the United States. Researchers say it resulted in fifty-six thousand emergency room visits a year during the nineteen nineties. There were almost four hundred sixty deaths a year from liver failure. The committee was especially concerned about prescription drugs that combine acetaminophen with stronger painkillers. The experts recommended banning combination drugs like Percocet and Vicodin.

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