Paracetamol
(asked on 13th May 2026) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the adequacy of the regulatory framework for liquid paracetamol products, including the quantity that can be purchased at one time.
The majority of patients use and take paracetamol responsibly. However, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is aware that paracetamol can be a favoured drug of choice for impulsive or intentional overdose. The MHRA takes these issues seriously as patient safety is our priority. The MHRA monitors the safety of medicines, including the sale of paracetamol without prescription.
In March 2025, the MHRA updated the voluntary Best Practice Guidance on the sale of medicines for pain relief, for general sales, to further highlight the risks of overdose, and to address public concerns and recognise current sales techniques. This guidance is available at the following link:
Further risk mitigation measures are also being considered. These are voluntary guidelines concerning the sale of solid oral forms, both tablets or capsules, and have been agreed with retailers to minimise the risk of impulse buying and reduce the risk of overdose. While the guidance was for solid formulations, many retailers also apply the guidance to liquid formulations, with bars at their checkout to prevent the sale of more than two packs of medicines for pain. The guidance was to address the potential risk of overdose if a person chose to consume multiple tablets at once, which is likely to be more difficult with the syrup liquid formulations.
The Human Medicines Regulations 2012 stipulate specific warnings for all paracetamol products to ensure that patients are warned of the risks of overuse. In addition, bottles should have child resistant caps to minimise the risk of access by the child.
The MHRA undertook a review of paracetamol safety in 2024 to examine the pack size of the solid dose forms. A reduction in pack size was not considered to provide additional risk minimisation as individuals are able to buy more than one pack in a single transaction. The risk of overdose associated with the use of liquid paracetamol is less likely owing to the difficulty in swallowing a large volume of a viscous liquid. However, regulations also stipulate the maximum quantity that should be included in a container, whether it is in liquid or solid form.
However, the MHRA is exploring legislative actions to address excessive sales and reduce the potential for harm, while remaining supportive of genuine patients.