BS: no aspirin to France?

Subject: BS: no aspirin to France?
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 14 Sep 03 - 08:53 PM

Today my husband went to a drugstore and mentioned that we are going to France. A person in the pharmacy told him that we cannot take aspirin into France.

Does anyone know if this is accurate? I don't find anything on the web about it.

What about other painkillers? Tylenol, ibuprofen? as a headache sufferer, I need to have this kind of thing in my kit.

Subject: RE: BS: no aspirin to France?
From: Peg
Date: 14 Sep 03 - 09:09 PM

I would guess you can get paracetemol in most European countries (equivalent to acetaminophen   =    Tylenol).
Why   would    France ban   aspirin?

Subject: RE: BS: no aspirin to France?
From: Noreen
Date: 14 Sep 03 - 09:29 PM

No idea what this is about- I suggest you go back and ask the pharmacist.
Aspirin is available in France as it is here in the UK. I've never heard anything about import restrictions.

Subject: RE: BS: no aspirin to France?
From: Metchosin
Date: 14 Sep 03 - 10:07 PM

Here's a good site regarding asprin in
France

Subject: RE: BS: no aspirin to France?
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 15 Sep 03 - 09:12 AM

I'm beginning to think the informant was just confused.

I realize that I can buy it in France, but I'm not going there to do errands, as I'm sure you realize.

Subject: RE: BS: no aspirin to France?
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Sep 03 - 10:11 AM

Aspirin was, and is, the trade name of a drug from Germany's Bayer, and is still a protected trademark in Germany, and probably elsewhere in Europe. You can easily get it there, but you can't 'import' it.

Subject: RE: BS: no aspirin to France?
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 15 Sep 03 - 11:25 AM

If you can't call it aspirin just say acetylsalicylic acid instead.

Besides it's use as an analgesic, aspirin is used in small doses to thin the blood when there is a possibility of clots forming.

I have travelled to France many times (and even worked there for a while) and have never been asked by customs if I was carrying aspirin, paracetamol or any other medicinal drug. If medicines were banned for import for personal use, it would be very arkward for anyone who used regularly prescribed drugs for asthma, diabetes, heart conditions etc.

Subject: RE: BS: no aspirin to France?
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Sep 03 - 11:44 AM

Dave, how many times have customs agents looked at every pill you carried into a country?

Acetylsalicylic acid is easy to make in an organic chemistry lab, and I've done that.

Aspirin was originally Bayer's trade name for acetylsalicylic acid. Their trademarked name still holds in Germany, and probablly the rest of Western Europe. Their trademark name didn't hold in the USA, and we use 'Asprin' for the name rather than the generic name acetylsalicylic acid.

Subject: RE: BS: no aspirin to France?
From: mouldy
Date: 16 Sep 03 - 02:51 AM

The main surprising thing (to me) is that it's an OTC medication over there, and here (UK) you can buy it almost anywhere, even sometimes in pubs!

I must speak to #1 daughter, who is doing her pharmacy pre-registration year. There may be some sort of blanket ruling about where and how medicines are sold. I've never bought aspirin over there, but from my few experiences of French pharmacies I seem to remember the body of the shop being mainly toiletries, with the medications firmly behind the dispensing counter.

Andrea

Subject: RE: BS: no aspirin to France?
From: GUEST,Laurent at work
Date: 16 Sep 03 - 09:48 AM

You can buy aspirin in any pharmacy in France without prescription unless codeine is added.
We call it "aspirine" or use the trademark's name.

Subject: RE: BS: no aspirin to France?
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 16 Sep 03 - 10:15 AM

What Dave Bryant said "I have travelled to France many times (and even worked there for a while) and have never been asked by customs if I was carrying aspirin, paracetamol or any other medicinal drug." That seems to be right on point.

Yes, of course there are pharmacies and aspirin in France. However, when there's a 2% chance that I will realize at 10 pm that a headache is trying to get me, then I need the aspirin right then and there.

We always carry small amounts of medication (in their packaging) for just these eventualities.

Subject: RE: BS: no aspirin to France?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 17 Sep 03 - 12:13 AM

A bit of trivia- Bayer lost its trademark in the United States as part of World War I reparations.

Be sure and carry your pills in the original container. At some airports, they will refuse unlabeled or unmarked drugs. This is part of the 9/11 security tightening. To save space in my kit, I used to repackage to save space. We buy acetominifen and vitamins in quantity containers because they are cheaper, but a couple of those containers take a lot of space when traveling. Get small sizes for travel. Never heard of any problems with aspirin in France.

Subject: RE: BS: no aspirin to France?
From: GUEST,Bladder Bug?
Date: 17 Sep 03 - 06:03 PM

Someone mentioned, in this thread, that Asprin may be used to thin blood where there is a danger of clots forming. I was taking it in this regard but, i wonder, could it be a cause of irritation in the bladder? If blood accompanies urine, painlessly, could it have been caused in this way?

Subject: RE: BS: no aspirin to France?
From: Noreen
Date: 17 Sep 03 - 06:43 PM

Ask your doctor!

Subject: RE: BS: no aspirin to France?
From: mouldy
Date: 18 Sep 03 - 03:18 AM

That's interesting, Laurent - they have removed the aspirin from Veganin tablets over here (originally aspirin, paracetamol, codeine) so could this be a preliminary to something more from the EC? You can still buy them without prescription though, kept behind the counter, like all the other codeine-containing medicines.

I asked #1 daughter, but she didn't know anything much about the rules in France.

Andrea