6 ms·
Paracetamol is the standard and WHO approved name used everywhere except certain parts of the US. It's ridiculous the FDA chose acetaminophen.
by closewith 1y ago
Paracetamol is the standard and WHO approved name used everywhere except certain parts of the US. It's ridiculous the FDA chose acetaminophen.
- jonhohle 1y agoWhat parts of the US use paracetamol? I’ve lived on both coasts and the Midwest and haven’t ever seen anything but acetaminophen.
- connicpu 1y agoParacetamol was coined in 1956, acetaminophen was coined in 1955[1]. The world pharmaceutical stage was a bit less globalized back then, so splits in naming like this just happened. They're both contractions of the full chemical name, so it's hard to argue one is more correct than the other. At this point the names are too entrenched in their respective countries, so changing them would only cause mass confusion and likely overdoses due to people not understanding what they're taking. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracetamol#Naming https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracetamol#Naming
- sigzero 1y agoI've live for all my life in a lot of places in the US and "Paracetamol" was never used. I'd never heard that term until this HN thread.
- closewith 1y agoThe overseas territories are split on which variant they use.