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Health: drugs more dangerous than useful?
Dolirhume, Vogalib, Smecta, Voltarène, these are medications that we all have in our medicine cabinet. However, they are more dangerous than useful, warns the medical journal “Prescrire”. – (France 2)
Dolirhume, Vogalib, Smecta, Voltarène, these are medications that we all have in our medicine cabinet. However, they are more dangerous than useful, warns the medical journal “Prescrire”.
Nurofen, Voltarène or Humex, these drugs well known to the French are nevertheless considered more dangerous than useful, by the specialized and independent magazine Prescribe. They are part of a list of 105 products, including 88 marketed in France, to be excluded according to the publication for their side effects or because there is a better alternative on the market. Like his colleagues, a pharmacist in the Paris region has many of the incriminated drugs on his shelves, some without a prescription.
Medicines of “public utility”
“These drugs are, for me, of public utility, because if we did not have these drugs in our pharmacy, I can tell you that we would have lots of people who would be off work and who would no longer go to work”, says Frédéric Desmoulins, pharmacist in Issy-les-Moulineaux (Hauts-de-Seine). According to the publication, Smecta, supposed to treat intestinal disorders, contains lead and therefore toxic, neurological, hematological, renal and cardiovascular effects. The National Medicines Safety Agency points out that proper use is essential to limit risks and that each product is controlled before it is placed on the market.
