WHAT a pathetic attempt at sound bite legislation by this Labour government! I refer to the proposed controls on the sale of paracetamol in supermarkets, off-licences and shops, which will be introduced next year, to try and stop suicides.

Reducing the size of packets in chemist shops, to 16 and 32 tablets is a total waste of time. Anyone who is intent on suicide would just go from one shop to another until they have purchased enough.

For legislation to mean anything, why not stop selling paracetamol in every shop, except chemists, or even make them available only on prescription?

But, by far the best way to beat the problem, would be to include in the preparation the antidote, methionine. There is already a tablet on the market called Pameton, containing paracetamol co-formulated with methionine.

It is rather silly to bring in these useless controls, when, in the cold light of day, people are probably going to need paracetamol to combat the headaches caused by this government.

JOHN D FARRER, Mallard Place, Oswaldtwistle.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.