As well as important information, this is a reminder that Australia is fortunate to have a service such as The Therapeutic Goods Administration.
We can have confidence in the health products and medicines available in Australia.
The TGA is just one part of a system constructed to make Australia a modern, first world country.
We do not have to endure prescription medicines being advertised directly to consumers, unlike in the USA. Direct advertising to consumers is banned. I am sure that is frustrating for some drug companies.
In the USA, advertisements along the lines of, ′Do you have a headache, and a itchy toe? See your doctor and check out XYZ disease. XXXXX drug treats XYZ with good results.′
You can imagine the resulting scenario in the doctor′s office, as fearful patients demand XYZ medicine and doctors fearing malpractice suits deal with the demands. We don’t have to put up with this pressure.
Australia has many progressive policies, systems and entities to give the 25 million of us the best chance of a decent life. However, Coalition attacks on these things has seen much suffering, misery, financial ruin and deaths. ROBODEBT is a case in point. The Coalition of the Liberal and National parties committed the worst act of bastardry in 100 years against thousands of vulnerable powerless citizens from the poorest class: social security recipients.
So we must protect the progressive, the fair, the humane, and the compassion of our society and its systems, and strive to strengthen these attributes.
Note: This recall information came fom a Disabilty Care agency.
See below from TGA:
Following a safety investigation by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), 55 products containing pholcodine are being cancelled from the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods and those currently on pharmacy shelves are being recalled from pharmacies.
The cancellation and recall actions are being taken because of a link between pholcodine-containing medicines and an increased risk of anaphylactic reactions (a sudden, severe, and life-threatening allergic reaction) to certain medicines used as muscle relaxants during general anaesthesia (called neuromuscular blocking agents).
Pholcodine has been used in a wide range of over-the-counter pharmacy medicines to treat non-productive (dry) cough, particularly in syrups and lozenges. It is also used in combination with other medicines in products that treat the symptoms of cold and flu.
Below is the list of medications being recalled:
What products are covered by the recall?
Here is the full list of recalled products, as supplied to the ABC by the Therapeutic Goods Administration:
- APOHEALTH DRY TICKLY COUGH RELIEF pholcodine 1mg/mL oral liquid bottle (new formulation)
- APOHEALTH DRY TICKLY COUGH RELIEF FORTE pholcodine 4mg/mL oral liquid bottle
- APOHEALTH DRY TICKLY COUGH RELIEF pholcodine 1mg/mL oral liquid bottle
- CHEMISTS’ OWN DRY TICKLY COUGH FORTE pholcodine 4mg/mL oral liquid bottle (new formulation)
- CHEMISTS’ OWN DRY COUGH FORTE pholcodine 3mg/mL oral liquid bottle
- CHEMISTS’ OWN DRY COUGH REGULAR pholcodine 1mg/mL oral liquid bottle
- CHEMISTS’ OWN DRY COUGH pholcodine 1mg/mL oral liquid bottle
- APOHEALTH DRY COUGH RELIEF PE & NASAL DECONGESTANT oral liquid bottle
- BLOOMS THE CHEMIST DRY COUGH RELIEF & NASAL DECONGESTANT PE oral liquid bottle
- CHEMISTS’ OWN KIDDICOL FOR CHILDREN COUGH & COLD oral liquid bottle
- CHEMISTS’ OWN DRY COUGH PLUS NASAL DECONGESTANT PE oral liquid bottle
- CHEMISTS’ OWN KIDDICOL CHILDREN’S COUGH MIXTURE oral liquid bottle
- LOGICIN DRY COUGH pholcodine 1mg/mL oral liquid bottle
- DURO-TUSS DRY COUGH LIQUID FORTE pholcodine 3mg/mL oral liquid bottle (new formulation)
- DURO-TUSS DRY COUGH LIQUID 6 YEARS+ pholcodine 1mg/mL oral liquid bottle (New Formula)
- DURO-TUSS DRY COUGH LOZENGES lemon flavour blister pack
- DIFFLAM PLUS DRY COUGH + ANTIBACTERIAL + ANTI-INFLAMMATORY pineapple lime flavour lozenge blister pack
- DIFFLAM PLUS DRY COUGH + ANTIBACTERIAL + ANTI-INFLAMMATORY honey lemon ginger flavour lozenge blister pack
- DURO-TUSS DRY COUGH LIQUID PLUS NASAL DECONGESTANT oral liquid bottle
- DURO-TUSS DRY COUGH LOZENGES orange flavour blister pack
- DURO-TUSS COUGH LIQUID EXPECTORANT oral liquid bottle
- DURO-TUSS PE DRY COUGH LIQUID + NASAL DECONGESTANT oral liquid bottle
- DIFFLAM PLUS DRY COUGH + ANTIBACTERIAL + ANTI-INFLAMMATORY blackcurrant flavour lozenge blister pack
- BENADRYL DRY, TICKLY COUGH FORTE pholcodine 4mg/mL oral liquid bottle
- CODRAL DRY COUGH FORTE STRENGTH pholcodine 4mg/mL oral liquid bottle
- PRICELINE PHARMACY DRY COUGH RELIEF pholcodine 5mg/5mL oral liquid bottle
- PHARMACY HEALTH DRY COUGH RELIEF pholcodine 5mg/5mL oral liquid bottle
- TERRYWHITE CHEMMART DRY COUGH RELIEF pholcodine 1mg/mL oral liquid bottle
- TERRYWHITE CHEMMART DRY COUGH FORTE pholcodine 4mg/mL oral liquid bottle
- PHARMACY CHOICE PHOLCODINE DRY FORTE 4mg/mL oral liquid bottle
- PRICELINE PHARMACY DRY TICKLY COUGH MIXTURE pholcodine 1mg/mL bottle
- PHARMACY HEALTH DRY TICKLY COUGH MIXTURE pholcodine 1mg/mL bottle
- SOUL PATTINSON DRY TICKLY COUGH MEDICINE pholcodine 1mg/mL oral liquid bottle
- PHARMACY CHOICE DRY COUGH RELIEF FORTE pholcodine 20mg/5mL oral liquid bottle
- PHARMACY CHOICE DRY COUGH RELIEF pholcodine 5mg/5 mL oral liquid bottle
- TERRYWHITE CHEMMART DRY COUGH RELIEF FORTE pholcodine 20mg/5mL oral liquid bottle
- NOUMED DRY COUGH LIQUID FORTE pholcodine 4mg/mL oral liquid bottle
- NOUMED DRY COUGH LIQUID pholcodine 1mg/mL oral liquid bottle
- PHARMACY CHOICE DRY TICKLY COUGH MEDICINE pholcodine 1mg/mL oral liquid bottle
- TERRYWHITE CHEMMART DRY COUGH RELIEF pholcodine 5mg/5mL oral liquid bottle
- AMCAL DRY COUGH FORTE pholcodine 4mg/mL oral liquid bottle
- AMCAL DRY COUGH MIXTURE pholcodine 1mg/mL oral liquid bottle
- PHARMACY HEALTH DRY COUGH RELIEF FORTE pholcodine 4mg/mL oral liquid bottle
Now let ponder on how fortunate we in Australiaare in a chaotic and unfair world, and remember that the biggest threat we have is corruption.
THE PUB 
And we chain our future to a country where this sort of thing is BAU ! ? It is a ‘sick puppy’ of a society and their politicians come from that society. Something to remember.
Last week the SMH editorial was urging a vote for the then status quo by re-electing the Perrottet government. Now, a few days after that election the SMH editorial has done a complete backflip and is trying to tell us Perrottet was leading a stale, corrupt government. If only they had said that last week!
if this election has taught us anything it would be how irrelevant the MSM is. How many people want to be told by some faceless editorial writer what to think? The sooner Nine falls in a heap and has to close its papers the better.
Bloody brilliant! (and definitely “read more”)
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2023/mar/28/australia-politics-live-labor-anthony-albanese-housing-future-fund-senate-greens-pocock-nsw-election-minority-chris-minns-climate-gas-bandt-bowen-safeguard?filterKeyEvents=false#top-of-blog
Spluttered into my coffee when I saw this end of a headline in The Australia. They have someone with this title 😆
They sure do sound deeply concerned with the environment .
Seth Meyers –
Stephen Colbert –
Rachel Maddow –
Chris Hayes –
Lawrence O’Donnell –
Brian Tyler Cohen –
My OH is peeling and dicing the Biiiiggggggg mango –
A further update is pending on completion of the ritual, stay tuned!
Mmmmmmm Mangoes
That was a hedonistic pleasure beyond words, tinged with sadness because it is gone.
We do however have another one about 900 gms or so still ripening on the tree so I still have that to look forward to.
😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
I think overall that it’s a good thing that the Minns government starts off as a minority, which seems to be the case now. For a start, it would make them somewhat humble in their approach to government, given that a no-confidence motion would be the consequence of outrageously bad behaviour, which could happen at any time and not just at the next election.
This could then allow for the rehabilitation of NSW Labor in the voters’ eyes, an accountable government that makes up for the sins of Obeid and company during the last period of state Labor rule.
So far, most of the crossbench seems to be open to giving a minority Labor government a chance, what with the signed document of confidence and supply from 3 Independents, plus hopefully cooperation from the Greens, so I hope that goodwill isn’t squandered.
Minority government, with the Greens, has worked well for Labor in the ACT. If you forget about the bloody light rail!
😆
The Cossacks earned a reputation as being fierce warriors. From this video you can see why but jeebus they must have been pissed when guns arrived .
Good morning Dawn Patrollers
The NSW Liberal Party has been accused of failing to protect one of its most ardent right-wing warriors from an independent threat on Sydney’s south-western fringe, focusing instead on heartland coastal seats. Former government whip Nathaniel Smith was dislodged as the Wollondilly member in an upset loss that further stokes anger within the party’s conservative ranks following the disastrous election result. When will the penny drop?
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/liberals-blindsided-in-sydney-s-south-west-by-independent-20230328-p5cvys.html
“Infiltrated by extremists, what will the real Liberals do now?”, wonders Lucy Hamilton who says they are partying with a toxic cocktail of base contingents aiming to cobble together a majority; these associations, however, will continue to push them further from government.
https://johnmenadue.com/infiltrated-by-extremists-what-will-the-real-liberals-do-now/
The newly elected NSW Labor government will begin drafting terms of reference for a royal commission into the state’s health services within weeks, having announced a surgical taskforce to tackle the state’s elective surgery waiting list. Alexandra Smith reports that Chris Minns and Health Minister Ryan Park, who were both sworn into a skeleton cabinet yesterday ahead of the full ministry, made health the focus of their first formal day on the job.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/one-of-the-most-urgent-needs-nsw-health-system-to-undergo-major-treatment-20230328-p5cvzl.html
Hung parliaments are terrible, but only for our fading political duopoly, writes Ross Gittins who says, “What’s happening is that the longstanding two-party system of government is breaking down before our eyes. Years of bad behaviour by the Coalition and Labor are leading more people to vote for minor parties and independents.” He states that weaker governments are bad for the major parties, but good for democracy and voters, who get more to choose from.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/hung-parliaments-are-terrible-but-only-for-our-fading-political-duopoly-20230328-p5cvt2.html
Ten successive interest rate rises are forcing the nation’s shoppers to slash their spending on non-essential items as evidence grows the Reserve Bank will need to pause its aggressive tightening of monetary policy at its next meeting, says Shane Wright.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/consumer-spending-slows-heaping-pressure-on-rba-to-hold-rates-20230328-p5cvsy.html
Osman Faruqi declares that the Greens’ capitulation over the safeguard mechanism represents Labor’s biggest victory over the minor party.
https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/greens-capitulation-represents-labor-s-biggest-victory-over-minor-party-20230327-p5cvks.html
This climate policy doesn’t kill gas, writes Elizabeth Knight who says there was so much fist-pumping from so many quarters with the deliverance of the government’s new and supposedly controversial environmental safeguard mechanism that people were bracing for blowback from the fossil fuel industry. But gas producers were largely silent this week. They knew it was coming and many have already been positioning for it.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/this-climate-policy-doesn-t-kill-gas-despite-all-the-fist-pumping-20230328-p5cvyi.html
A Labor election promise aimed at addressing Australia’s housing crisis has suffered a major setback after the federal government failed to secure crossbench support for the legislation. The government wanted the policy passed this week, but lack of backing in the Senate means it will now have to try again after the May budget, writes Rachel Clun.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/greens-deliver-blow-to-labor-s-core-housing-promise-20230328-p5cvy1.html
After nearly a year of accommodation and compromise, the Greens are drawing a line in the sand when it comes to the Albanese government’s Housing Australia Future Fund, writes James Massola who tells us the Greens want $5 billion for social and affordable housing and a national agreement to cap rent increases for two years to help the up to 700,000 people in need of a social and affordable home.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/the-greens-5-billion-line-in-the-sand-20230328-p5cvyz.html
Meanwhile, the new Labor government will inherit a shrinking pipeline of new housing across Greater Sydney, with dwelling approvals running more than 15 per cent below the five-year average, threatening to exacerbate the housing and rental affordability crisis gripping the city.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/labor-inherits-dismal-housing-supply-outlook-for-sydney-and-state-20230327-p5cvnd.html
One million people – including one in seven children – are living below the poverty line in New South Wales, according to a new report highlighting the deepening inequality across Sydney, explains Tamsin Rose.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/mar/28/one-million-people-are-living-below-the-poverty-line-in-nsw-census-data-has-revealed
The rate of loss-making sales has increased in Melbourne amid the property market downturn, but a string of regional hotspots have bucked the trend, explains Jim Molo.
https://www.theage.com.au/property/news/the-victorian-tree-change-towns-where-every-property-seller-made-a-profit-20230328-p5cvyf.html
Labor has ramped up its attacks on Aston Liberal candidate Roshena Campbell, accusing her of hypocrisy for claiming tens of thousands of dollars in ratepayer funded childcare entitlements while criticising Labor’s expanded subsidies.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/labor-targets-campbell-s-childcare-hypocrisy-ahead-of-aston-byelection-20230328-p5cvub.html
Paul Bongiorno writes about the high stakes in Aston for worried Liberals.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/opinion/2023/03/28/paul-bongiorno-aston-liberals/
The Commonwealth’s top legal adviser told a key referendum working group the constitutional wording for an Indigenous Voice to parliament posed limited legal risk as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese continues to resist calls to release his advice, report Paul Sakkal and James Massola.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/solicitor-general-didn-t-advise-watering-down-voice-wording-working-group-members-say-20230328-p5cvy6.html
Lawyer. Legal academic. Constitutional law professor. Constitutional conservative. Many high-profile voice supporters have rendered their job titles close to meaningless. It’s easy to respect these people as activists, but much harder to take seriously their contributions to a rational, legally informed debate, writes an indignant Janet Albrechtsen in full flight.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/voice-activists-not-lawyers-behind-dishonest-debate/news-story/492b0f480470a2443af6536c65a19809?amp
The bosses of the Commonwealth Bank and Westpac say the local industry can withstand the recent turmoil on overseas banking markets, but they caution that funding markets are on edge and rising interest rates remain a key risk. Clancy Yeates also reports that Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) chairman John Lonsdale also emphasised the industry’s resilience, as the watchdog’s latest stress tests found local banks could handle a severe recession while keeping their capital intact.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/extremely-strong-cba-and-westpac-bosses-say-local-banks-resilient-20230328-p5cvz6.html
Lucy Hamilton examines the character of the neo-Nazis we are seeing more and more of.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/28/trump-incendiary-rhetoric-could-fuel-violence
Two independent laboratories have cleared Australian runner Peter Bol of ever using the banned substance EPO in a development his US-based lawyer Paul Greene has described as a “catastrophic blunder” from Sports Integrity Australia, reports Andrew Webster. Bol has said he does not intend to sue SIA for damages, even though his legal costs are more than $50,000.
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/athletics/catastrophic-blunder-independent-testing-reveals-peter-bol-did-not-use-epo-20230328-p5cvre.html
Webster goes on to write that Peter Bol should be in Brisbane today for the start of the Australian Track and Field Championships, readying himself to become the first man to win a fourth 800-metre title. Instead, he’ll be at home in Melbourne trying to make sense of how his life and career have been upended after being accused of being a drug cheat.
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/athletics/peter-bol-deserves-a-senate-inquiry-into-handling-of-his-doping-case-20230328-p5cvrf.html
Plastics are responsible for wide-ranging health impacts including cancers, lung disease and birth defects, according to the first analysis of the health hazards of plastics across their entire life cycle – from extraction for manufacturing, through to dumping into landfill and oceans. Melissa Davey tajes us through the report led by the Boston College Global Observatory on Planetary Health in partnership with Australia’s Minderoo Foundation and the Centre Scientifique de Monaco
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/29/plastics-cause-wide-ranging-health-issues-from-cancer-to-birth-defects-landmark-study-finds
Industry super funds say about a million women would be thousands of dollars better off in retirement if the federal government mandated payday superannuation contributions. Rachel Clun tells us that the peak body Industry Super Australia is pushing the government to update laws that allow businesses to pay super quarterly, saying the move could reduce unpaid super by at least 15 per cent.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/women-being-ripped-off-by-quarterly-superannuation-payments-20230328-p5cvsl.html
The Greens, Coalition and crossbench have teamed up to set up an inquiry into the freedom of information commissioner’s resignation over dysfunction and delays in the FOI system. God, the Coalition INVENTED it!
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/mar/28/greens-coalition-and-entire-crossbench-unite-to-force-inquiry-into-broken-foi-system
A mammoth meatball has been created by a cultivated meat company, resurrecting the flesh of the long-extinct animals. The project aims to demonstrate the potential of meat grown from cells, without the slaughter of animals, and to highlight the link between large-scale livestock production and the destruction of wildlife and the climate crisis.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/28/meatball-mammoth-created-cultivated-meat-firm
Two highly reputable studies show once and for all that ivermectin has no effect on COVID-19 – but that doesn’t mean we’ve heard the last of it, writes Liam Mannix.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/finally-we-have-closure-on-that-horse-drug-covid-cure-ivermectin-well-sort-of-20230328-p5cvsq.html
The uniformly negative reaction of the national press gallery to former PM Paul Keating’s views on Australia’s security raises questions not just of its intellectual adequacy but of whether the media has been captured by and is knowingly serving the United States at Australia’s expense, writes Mike Gilligan.
https://johnmenadue.com/has-the-usa-captured-australias-fourth-estate/
It’s the decades-long human rights tragedy next door that Australia avoids. Abuses in Myanmar, Syria, Palestine, Ukraine and other hate hotspots get stern condemnation sometimes backed by sanctions, arms and sanctuary for refugees. But Indonesia’s brutal suppression of separatists in West Papua goes untouched. It’s a story likely to end badly – then continue, Duncan Graham reports.
https://michaelwest.com.au/west-papua-a-human-rights-tragedy-right-on-our-doorstep/
If Vladimir Putin “slips on a banana” and dies tomorrow the Ukraine war would end immediately, a key opposition figure says, because the invasion has no support from either the Russian public or its elites and was entirely the project of the president, says Michael Bachelard.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/putin-s-death-would-end-ukraine-war-says-russian-opposition-figure-20230328-p5cvte.html
Donald Trump’s demagogic attacks on prosecutors investigating potential criminal charges against him are aimed at riling up his base and could spark violence – but show no signs of letting up as a potential indictment in at least one case looms, say legal experts.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/28/trump-incendiary-rhetoric-could-fuel-violence
Cartoon Corner
A brilliant Cathy Wilcox
David Rowe
Matt Golding
Andrew Dyson
John Shakespeare
Peter Broelman
Dionne Gain
Simon Letch
Mark Knight
Spooner
From the US