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Delayed drug-related harms: deceptive and potentially deadly
Drug regulation acquired high prominence in Europe as a result of the thalidomide catastrophe. In the 1950s barbiturates were commonly used as hypnotics, and because of their narrow margin of safety due to respiratory and cardiovascular depression were predictably highly lethal when taken in overdose – a type A adverse effect in the classification of Rawlins and Thomson consisting of an immediate harm the lethality of which is determined by a combination of toxicology, dose and individual susceptibility.
Inglese