NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Over-the-counter drug packaging are required to carry certain safety warnings on their labels, but consumers may pay them little mind, a study published Monday suggests.
When researchers had 61 adults peruse five brands of over-the-counter painkillers, many failed to remember, or even read, certain required safety information.
Using an eye-tracking device, the researchers found that more than 80 percent of participants did not read label information on how to detect product tampering.
Meanwhile, more than half failed to read information on whether the product had child-resistant packaging, according to findings published in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"The information contained in these warnings is important, and there are potentially serious ramifications to not reading them," said lead researcher Dr. Laura Bix, of Michigan State University in East Lansing.
Parents of young children, she told Reuters Health, could end up bringing home a drug that lacks child-resistant packaging, putting them at risk of accidental poisoning. And while product tampering is uncommon, it's important for consumers to know how to detect it, Bix said.
By law, information on child-resistant packaging and product tampering must be prominent and conspicuous on over-the-counter drug labels.
The current findings, Bix said, suggest that manufacturers could do a better job.
Of all the information on the five painkillers used in this study, participants spent the least time looking at the safety warnings. Instead, they dedicated the most time to reading brand-names and product claims.
Not surprisingly, when participants were asked to recall information about each product, few remembered the safety warnings. They were far more likely to remember a brand-name or a product's color, the study found.
People often think of over-the-counter medications as inherently "safe," Bix noted, and may not think to look for safety warnings. The bottom line, she said, is that consumers need to be savvy label readers.
SOURCE: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition, online March 30, 2009.
My husband is a classic example of this kind of ignorance. It's so frustrating! I can't even send him to the store for a simple bottle of tylenol - he'll manage to get the wrong thing.