Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department has taken to promote public awareness of the danger of paracetamol overdoses.

All packs for over-the-counter medicines containing paracetamol must include clear instructions to promote appropriate use and highlight the dangers of overdose.

These include dosing instructions and a warning not to take more medicine than the label tells you to, a statement that the product contains paracetamol and an instruction not to take with anything else containing paracetamol, and advice to talk to a doctor at once if too much of the medicine is taken even if you feel well.

The patient information leaflet (or the label if there is no leaflet) must also contain an explanation that this is because too much paracetamol can cause delayed, serious liver damage.