The debate over acetaminophen being safe rages on and while doctors say taken by itself Tylenol is safe, it crosses the line of safety when it is mixed in other medicines.

An FDA expert panel has recommended Tuesday to curb the drug’s use, reducing the maximum dose of Tylenol and eliminating combination prescription painkillers that contain acetaminophen such as Vicodin and Percocet. However the panel opted against pulling over-the-counter cough and cold medicines containing acetaminophen.

Dr. Deborah McMahan Allen County health commissioner said people often don’t realize they are unwittingly taking extra doses of Tylenol in cold medications.

Acetaminophen is in far more medications than people realize and taken unknowingly the chances of overdose increase. Overdoses of acetaminophen are the leading cause of liver failure.

McMahan said "It’s good to bring awareness to this issue," but felt the recommendations were inconsistent as the problems in her estimate lie in over-the-counter medications. In these cases people don’t consult with a doctor or physician and don’t know exactly what they’re taking.

Amy Hyduk, clinical pharmacy manager for Lutheran Health Network said, "It’s a little bit easier to involuntarily overdose, "when people don’t know a medication contains acetaminophen. If Percocet and Vicodin are eliminated, "We would be severely limited with our pain medication options," Hyduk said.

Nick Sloffer, pharmacy district manager for Kroger and Scott’s Food & Pharmacy, sees the panel recommendations as positive from a safety standpoint. Limiting the maximum single dose of Tylenol to 650 milligrams, he thinks would eliminate some confusion caused by varied dosages. However he feels counseling patients about acetaminophen’s presence in medications is the best solution. 

Dr. Greg Johnson, associate chief medical officer at Parkview Hospital, said the FDA panel’s recommendation showed a general effort "making sure that patients know what they’re taking."

Experts question the changing theories of “safe” medicines.  Aspirin has been with us for a little more than a century, but today, the world consumes about 44,000 tons of the stuff a year, while acetaminophen itself dates more than 100 years, but gained popularity in the latter half of the 20th century when, curiously enough, it was said to be safer than aspirin.

For years Tylenol ads called the product as the painkiller that "doctors recommend most." However with the passage of time questions arise about whether doctors actually believed it to be safe, or was it just due to superb marketing.

Some theorize that no medicine comes without side effects no matter how as we have not allowed our bodies to be exposed to any dirt or infection, we have lowered our body’s natural mechanism of building immunity and fighting disease. We are therefore at the mercy of medications to ease the slightest of problems and with each medicine comes a side effect no matter how small which adds to our need for another medication and so on.