Salaams
As Doctors we prescribe medication to our patients all the time. If the patient is a Muslim/Jew would you prescribe the same drug but in an alternative form in order to avoid any haram/Non-Kosher ingredients (gelatine in capsules etc) eg Ramipril tablets rather than capsules or Lansoprazole FastTab rather than capsules etc?
What if the 'halal' form is more expensive/conflicts with you Practice/PCT Prescribing Policy/Guidelines?
Masalaam
Stranger in a strange land
3 comments:
Salams
this is a minefield.
I wonder if tablets are halal as most contain mg stearate. and if you find out something looks halal, the manuf is free to source a cheaper version of it whenever they please, so you can never be sure.
this was discussed at the IMEF, and one of the scholars said if the pt asks you specifically, then try and choose something halal, otherwise prescribe as normal. am i right Fairoz?
I saw this and wanted to share!
2003 report
http://www.vaccinesafety.edu/Porcine-vaccineapproval.htm
" A letter written in July 2001 by the Regional Office of the World Health Organization (WHO) for the Eastern Mediterranean reported on the findings of more than one hundred Islamic legal scholars who met to clarify Islamic purity laws. The scholars met in 1995 at a seminar convened by the Islamic Organization for Medical Sciences on the topic "The Judicially Prohibited and Impure Substances in Foodstuff and Drugs."
The topic is of interest to the immunization community because some vaccines contain pork gelatin. In Islamic law, pork and pork products are impure, and observant Muslims do not consume them. Quoting from a statement issued by the scholars, the letter states the following: "The seminar issued a number of recommendations, included in the attached statement, stipulating that 'Transformation which means the conversion of a substance into another substance, different in characteristics, changes substances that are judicially impure . . . into pure substances, and changes substances that are prohibited into lawful and permissible substances'."
Consequently, the scholars determined that the transformation of pork products into gelatin alters them sufficiently to make it permissible for observant Muslims to receive vaccines containing pork gelatin and to take medicine packaged in gelatin capsules."
" For observant Jews
31 July 2003
To whom it may concern
Re: Porcine and other animal derived ingredients in non oral medication.
It should be noted that according to Jewish laws, there is no problems with porcine or other animal derived ingredients in non oral products. This includes vaccines, injections, suppositories, creams and ointments.
Rabbi Abraham Adler, BPharm MRPharm S
Kashrus and Medicines Information Service
"
WHO letter is at
http://www.immunize.org/concerns/porcine.pdf
i'v found a way to search for stearate free med'n. the following talks about lactose but you can easily search on "stearate" aswell.
"Where can I find a list of lactose-free medicines?
Lactose, the carbohydrate component of milk, is widely used as an excipient in pharmaceutical manufacturing. It can be used as a diluent, bulking agent or filler in tablets and capsules, and as a bulking agent in powders. Lactose is also used as a carrier for drugs in dry powder inhalers.
Lactose intolerance occurs due to a deficiency of the intestinal enzyme lactase. Ingestion of lactose by patients with lactase deficiency can lead to a clinical syndrome of abdominal pain, diarrhoea, distension, and flatulence; symptoms may also occur in persons without such a deficiency who have ingested excessive amounts of lactose.
Patients with lactose intolerance try to exclude lactose from their diet. However, they may not need to avoid it altogether. The amount of lactose in pharmaceutical tablets and capsules is very small and patients with lactose intolerance may find that they are able to tolerate this.
If you do need to look for a lactose-free preparation, the advanced search facility on the electronic Medicines Compendium will help. Go to www.emc.medicines.org.ukand click on ‘search by section’ at the left of the screen.
Select section 6.1 ‘List of excipients’ then choose ‘does not contain’ from the pull down list, and type lactose in the search box. To specify the drug you are looking for, click on ‘add’, then choose section 2 ‘Qualitative and quantitative composition’ and type the drug name in the search box, click on ‘add’ then select ‘search’."
from PCT talk oct 06
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