Wow, almost as if we should have critical factories all around the world, not just where the workforce is cheap..
this post was submitted on 23 Apr 2026
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Paracetamol is made all over the world. It's not complex and it's cheap.
The article discusses that this current issue is predominantly because paracetamol is usually derived from petrochemical feedstocks. It was originally discovered while testing coal tar analgesic analogues.
There are very recent developments to make it from pine tar so that it doesn't require petrochemicals, but that has not yet become a large part of the industry.
Thank you for opening this! Especially the pine tar link is interesting, since I know a guy who made, at home, their own acetylsalicylic acid from willow bark. Worked well! Interesting stuff.
How much oil would there be in it ?
Most paracetamol in the UK is imported from India. The ships now have to go around SA to avoid the conflict, this is what has driven the price up.
100% of paracetamol itself is manufactured from oil. The paracetamol pills themselves also have stabilizer (preservatives / dessican) and filler (just to bulk out the pills, else they'd be tiny) which can come from multiple sources.
The main chemical synthesis precursor is phenol, which commercial industry extracted previously from coal & coal tar, but in modern ages it's almost entirely from petroleum-derived feedstocks.
This is the dumbest argument.
Here in Australia we used to refine 98% of the fuel we use.
Over the last 20 years 6 of 8 refineries have closed so that now the vast majority of fuel is imported.
Now every second idiot (most of which seem to drive tractors or trucks?) is saying we shouldn't have closed our refineries.
However, i cant help but wonder how they would've felt paying more for their fuel over the last 20 years. Like if you could buy foreign refined fuel, or more expensive poorer quality local fuel, would all of those people be buying the expensive stuff just to keep those refineries open?
Of course not.
But subsidies! Sure. Yeah. Tax payers love subsidising dead markets.
The reason all our refineries closed is because they were old and tired and its obvious to anyone with a pulse that its not worth maintaining them.
Much dumber to import 100% foreign oil and then have no alternatives when foreign trade falls apart, no?
Sure its "dumb" but no one wants to pay extra for lower quality stuff inperpituity just in case the yanks elect a senile idiot who shits the bed.
We dont really have any oil anyway. We'd still have e to import all the crude. Theres some deposits here and there but none really accessible and we have no idea of the quality.
Additionally, foreign trade hasn't really "fallen apart" just yet. We're one of the world's largest LNG exporters and the people who refine diesel for us need our LNG just as badly as we need their diesel.
Loads of energy importers in SEA are in a much worse position than us, having nothing to bargain with.
Fair enough. You seem to know more about this than me lol
Meh. Perhaps not much. I just listened to a podcast about exactly this question this morning. ABC News Daily I think.
I don't think it's that stupid on an argument. For example you wouldn't know you're paying more if imported fuel was taxed in a way that makes local fuel competitive. That tax money could go back into subsidizing, including modernizing the refineries.
The only problem with this plan is that it's far far cheaper to exploit foreign countries for their natural resources instead of using your own. If we weren't exploiting foreigners your local refineries would be worth a lot more.
That doesn't make any sense.
Tax imports to support an industry that would replace the imports?
Even if the logic wasn't fundamentally flawed, you're still talking about paying more for fuel.
The failure is our LNG agreements. We should be getting a better price for LNG exports and we should have guaranteed diesel in return.
It will never make sense to have distributed manufacturing just because. Strong trade relationships is always going to be better for everyone.
How un-American of you to say. And I agree.
That'll put a pack of 16 up by about 10p. Not really going to break the bank.
https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/sainsbury-s-healthcare-paracetamol-500mg-tablets-x16
Is it only because of the Iran War, or are idiots internationally also listening to the Trumptards about it causing autism or whatever crap they're saying about Tylenol/Acetaminophen/Paracetamol now?
Oh no! How am I going to sustain my super-autism now?! /s