Drug Safety Is Everyone's Concern

On one of my blog-hopping days, I came upon one article on the net about drug safety. I have previously written about medicines and how they were advertised through the tri-media and wondered whether this factor can affect the audiences reception about the product itself. Whether the audience/people are swayed into using the products because it was portrayed in such a way that it becomes the more obvious choice. 

As a consumer of different products/medicines that are in the market today, I believe that it is my concern to know whether a product is safe. It is not only enough to rely on ads/commercials because it is our health and safety we are talking about here. 

One of which caught my attention was the product named Saridon by Bayer. In an article by Miss Toral at the Sunstar Website (you may read it here), she pointed out that this product contains Propyphenazone which might have side effects to those who take it. Now, we all know, through Saridon's commercial or in some other way that this product targets pain and deals with headaches that are caused by extreme heat, abrupt weather changes, stress, loud noise, and other environmental factors. And with its very affordable prize, here in the Philippines, it has been known to become popular against headaches; accordingly more and more Filipinos particularly in Visayas and Mindanao are frequent users of this product. 

All in all, I though, it must be a good product since it has gained a following here in the Philippines and is affordable compared to other brands. But as I read the article further, I learned that the product is banned in a  number of countries such as Turkey, Sri Lanka, Korea, Malaysia and Thailand. Now this sparked curiosity. Why would these countries ban the product if it is doing good as it claims? In Korea those who are below the age of 15 are banned to take it. The product also restricts its usage for those who are pregnant and are suffering under certain conditions listed here. But you will only know this if you really read the labels because these aren't included in the commercial/ads at all. I think this should be clearly communicated not only in the ads, but also in their webpages or FB pages since they have one that include phenacetin which can prove to be carcinogenic (can cause cancer). Article can be found here.

I think it would be better if the DOH and Bayer can provide more information about the active ingredients in this product. In this way, consumers will know and can judge for themselves if this product is indeed worth taking. 

 

Original article: Drug Safety Is Everyone's Concern