If the children were being sedated...

[stephen25000]

One question that intrigues me is whether Amaral's reference to calpol night in his book would be libel by Portuguese law.

It certainly would by UK ...

MADELEINE SLEEPS BADLY

One of the police officers who went to the McCanns' home in England, reported that a medical monitoring chart for Madeleine was posted in the kitchen. This referred to her sleep problems and made clear that she was waking several times in the night. The paternal grandfather stated that Kate gave the little girl - and also the twins - Calpol, a medication designed to facilitate falling asleep. That seems to be a common practice in Great Britain; they even talk about a "Calpol generation." In recent years, the possible presence of an antihistamine with sedative effects in Calpol has aroused great controversy. Recently, the same laboratory put Calpol Night on the market, whose ingredients clearly list that it contains an antihistamine.

Amaral has stopped (just) short of saying Kate and Gerry gave Madeleine the drug.

But that is the impression far too many people have formed, including Morais, who wrote a particularly vicious blog on the subject.

So is Amaral's reference libel?

You do not know what the mccanns did, do you ferryman ?

Unless of course you were there.

[John]

I used Calpol on my own children when they were toddlers on many occasions as a soother and never ever found a problem.  Personally I don't see what the issue is.  The McCanns took Calpol on holiday because it worked.

[stephen25000]

I used Calpol on my own children when they were toddlers on many occasions as a soother and never ever found a problem.  Personally I don't see what the issue is.  The McCanns took Calpol on holiday because it worked.

For reference purposes:





http://www.theecologist.org/green_green_living/behind_the_label/346400/behind_the_label_calpol.htmlOther ingredients

'Calpol of course doesn't just contain paracetamol. It is a veritable cocktail of sweeteners, flavourings, preservatives and colourants to make the product appealing and palatable to infants. These additives include strawberry 'flavouring' and carmoisine (E122- suspected carcinogen, banned in Austria, Japan, Norway, Sweden and the US) to produce its pink colour.

It also contains, Maltitol (a mild laxative), glycerol (E422 - large quantities can cause headaches, thirst and nausea), sorbitol (E420 - large quantities can cause stomach upset), the paraben preservatives methyl parahydroxybenzoate (E218 - suspected hormone disrupter and allergen), propyl parahydroxybenzoate (E216 - suspected hormone disrupter and allergen), ethyl parahydroxybenzoate (E214 - suspected hormone disrupter, banned in France and Australia), and a thickener xanthan gum (E415 - no known adverse effects).

Being such an interesting E-cocktail, it's not surprising that it can cause allergic reactions (such as skin rashes and hayfever-like symptoms), tiredness, unexpected bleeding or tendency towards bruising as well as headache, nausea.

Using paracetamol to treat fever may also result in your child having a seemingly endless round of colds, since the body's natural fever reaction was not allowed to kill the virus causing the illness leaving your child to be reinfected again and again.

E122 and E218 can lead to hyperactivity, and the Hyperactive Children's Support Group identifies them as likely causes of mysterious and sudden cases of ADHD-like hyper-activity.'


.......................and there is so much more information out there.

[ferryman]

So you've given up on pursuing the red herring that calpol night might have had anything to do with Madeleine's disappearance, have you, Stephen?

[Jean-Pierre]

I never said such a thing as you know.

Testing drugs before general release is a standard procedure.

Didn't you know that John Pierre ?

Perhaps it is you who is spending too much time at the bottom of the garden with the fairies.

Oh dear.  Perhaps a simple explanation will in fact be needed.

Calpol Night received marketing authorisation in December 2006.  Before it can receive marketing authorisation testing and clinical trials will have to be complete.  The McCann went on holiday in May 2007.  Why do you imagine they would have been testing Calpol Night in May 2007 - given that it already had marketing authorisation? 



   

[stephen25000]

So you've given up on pursuing the red herring that calpol night might have had anything to do with Madeleine's disappearance, have you, Stephen?

The calpol is a minor issue.

It's all about the mccanns and the made up abduction ferryman.

Try and pay attention.

It would help.

[Carew]

The children ate at around 6ish and were asleep at around 8ish right? So you have a sedative administered orally that takes two hours to take effect?

Although the children were said to be tired that night, their parents showed no concern at them being left alone so I assume that they weren't abnormally tired or displaying signs of sedation like floppiness for example.

Remember that Kate Mccann was a trained anaesthesiologist so  would be very aware of the signs of sedation.

I assume that you are claiming that the sedative was mixed in with either food or drink, so no slow release capsule could be used?

What sedative would take two hours to have effect yet last many hours afterwards?

No....the parents didn`t seem concerned at the time about abnormal tiredness/floppiness/signs of sedation........rather the reverse.

 Didn`t Gerry mention in the "Crimewatch" programme that they discussed increasing the frequency of the checks on account of the possibility of the children waking as Madeleine & Sean had the night before?

Also Kate expressed concern to Fiona Payne about the possibility of Madeleine waking distressed again...........wondering whether it was better for her to get out and find them, or wake and find herself locked in.

[Carew]

That is true, but no indications of illness with the Mccann children have been given, so I think it unlikely tbh

Was Matts baby ill then?  I missed that.

Did you really?.........

Rereading this thread, I was surprised that you didn`t know that Dr Oldfield/Rachael Mampilly`s baby had diarrhoea/possible tummy bug that evening and her parents were concerned about her vomiting, Sadie.

Jane Tanner/Russell O`Brien`s small daughter was sick, necessitating a change of bedsheet.

Two of the McCann infants had woken distressed and alone the night before......

.........Makes you wonder where the "empathy" with their children was that evening.

[The General]

Sedation.

[Vertigo Swirl]

What a blast from the past!  One of my many alter egos on this forum.  How lovely to see Alfred R Jones being bumped back into life.  Sedation indeed.  The sort of sedation that has kids screaming and running around leaping off sofas.  I think it's called Calpol. 

[The General]

What a blast from the past!  One of my many alter egos on this forum.  How lovely to see Alfred R Jones being bumped back into life.  Sedation indeed.  The sort of sedation that has kids screaming and running around leaping off sofas.  I think it's called Calpol.

Why use Calpol, Alf, when there's a whole pharmacy at your disposal?
Why not Midazolam, for example? With the right expertise and correct dosage, perfectly harmelss.

[Vertigo Swirl]

Why use Calpol, Alf, when there's a whole pharmacy at your disposal?
Why not Midazolam, for example? With the right expertise and correct dosage, perfectly harmelss.

Good point.  Yes I seem to recall someone saying the McCanns had brought along a veritable conucopia of drugs with them to knock the kids out with, not just the potentially lethal Calpol.  I think there’s even a photo of this somewhere - a whole holiday apartment side table covered in pills, syringes, and liquids.  Sadly they don’t seem to have got their heads around calibrating the doses as those pesky kids were up crying all night and one of them was up about jumping on the sofa as soon as her parents’ backs were out that sliding door.

[The General]

Good point.  Yes I seem to recall someone saying the McCanns had brought along a veritable conucopia of drugs with them to knock the kids out with, not just the potentially lethal Calpol.  I think there’s even a photo of this somewhere - a whole holiday apartment side table covered in pills, syringes, and liquids.  Sadly they don’t seem to have got their heads around calibrating the doses as those pesky kids were up crying all night and one of them was up about jumping on the sofa as soon as her parents’ backs were out that sliding door.

That's it, Alf, but only the ones who weren't cot-bound, obviously.

[Vertigo Swirl]

That's it, Alf, but only the ones who weren't cot-bound, obviously.

They were the ones screaming all night, being as they were impervious to the effects of the strong sedatives administered to them after a hard day's work at the kids club.

[The General]

They were the ones screaming all night, being as they were impervious to the effects of the strong sedatives administered to them after a hard day's work at the kids club.

Jesus fck, you have changed.

Now we're venturing back in to the realm of the old 'incremental dosage theory', post the crying on the 1st and the spate of generally ill kids.
Good of Kate to corroborate Mrs. Fenn's account for us though. One of the few verifiable, corroborated facts in this tapestry of tw..tery.