NEW WARNING ABOUT PARACETAMOL USE

PREGNANT women have been urged to watch their intake of paracetamol, with international experts pushing for warning labels to be added to packets.

There is a growing body of research to suggest the painkiller may impact a baby’s development in the womb, according to more than 90 scientists, clinicians and public health professionals.

In a “consensus statement” published on Friday in Nature Reviews Endocrinology, they outline concerns and suggest more research must be undertaken to understand the effects of paracetamol exposure during pregnancy.

The authors reviewed more than 25 years of research, which suggested paracetamol use in pregnancy could be associated with “adverse neurological, urogenital and reproductive outcomes”.

But Flinders Medical Centre specialist pharmacist Luke Grzeskowiak, who is not one of the authors, said the absolute risks of these were “low” and the majority of women who took painkillers would be fine.

“Thinking about numbers of women taking this (paracetamol) while pregnant, the vast majority – 95 per cent plus – are going to have a healthy baby,” Dr Grzeskowiak said.

“If it was creating a big problem we would know about it by now,” Dr Grzeskowiak said.