Renaming adrenaline is wrong and may lead to errors

doi:10.1136/bmj.320.7233.0/g

Renaming adrenaline is wrong and may lead to errors

Unlike some critics of the European Union decision to adopt international non-proprietary drug names, who think this reflectsAmerican domination, Aronson thinks standardisation is sensible,but he argues on p 506 that "adrenaline" should not be changedto "epinephrine." "Adrenaline," he argues, is more widely usedworldwide than "epinephrine" and is historically and etymologicallycorrect. He also fears errors arising from the confusion betweenepinephrine and ephedrine. He urges the WHO to make "adrenaline"the international non-proprietaryname.