Here's another interesting fact about the McCann case. In GM's statement (September 2007) there are a list of drugs that were brought with them on holiday.
When they traveled on holiday to Portugal they brought several medicines, namely Calpol, Nurofen, for fevers and pains, both for adults and children, Losec for gastric problems that he occasionally suffers from, and an anti-histamine called Terfenadine for hay fever. He did not give any of these medicines or any others to the children while on holiday in Portugal.
I had often speculated that that the anti-histamine phenergan may have been the cause of the twins deep sleep, and Phenergan would have been useful if you didn't want a child crying for hours when you're having an evening meal out with friends. Phenergan is so well known for it's sedative side effects that it is also recommended by some pharmacists as a sleep aid. I was wrong that it was a POM. It can be purchased at a chemist - though not on open display. You have to speak to the pharmacist. Well all this was my own speculation. When I first saw Terfenadine I presumed it was a Portuguese name for Phenergan. However it's actually from a group of drugs called non sedating antihistamines. Seems like I was barking at the wrong cupboard door! But as I read a little further:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/hay-fever-drug-taken-off-sale-1269259.htmlChemists were clearing their shelves of hay-fever remedies containing the drug terfenadine yesterday following a warning over its safety from the Government's Committee on Safety of Medicines.
The move comes after increasing concern about the drug's effect on the heart in some patients. Twenty people have died while taking terfenadine products, 14 of them from heart-related problems, since it was first marketed in 1982.
That was in April 1997... by September the following was being reported as Terfenadine was made a POM:
After consultation with the pharmaceutical industry, professional bodiesand consumer groups, the UK Ministry of Health has given prescription-only status to terfenadine, the antihistamine product sold in the UK as Triludan.
The decision follows evidence that terfenadine, when used concomitantly with some other drugs, can cause serious heart rhythm disorders which have been linked to 15 deaths since the product was launched in 1982 (Marketletters passim). The UK move to restrict the product may be followed in the rest of Europe, where its position is under review after decisions earlier this year by France, Luxembourg and Greece to suspend its marketing license.
I would certainly like to know which member of the family had a prescription for Terfenadine 10 years later. I'm sure we'll never find out though. Another mystery to add to the rest, no doubt - and all IMO, of course.
