We almost lost our 14 year old daughter to liver failure caused by a Tylenol overdose. It is a very serious concern.
Strange thing is that the tylenon/acetaminophen included with Vicodin like opiate pain killers is the MOST DANGEROUS component.
I'm glad your daughter pulled through. It's amazing to me how many people are clueless about the danger of acetaminophen. I always see people on FR railing about the huge danger that would be posed by making the morning-after pill non-prescription, claiming that if it weren't for "politics" such a "dangerous" drug would never be allowed to be sold without a prescription. But there have been NO deaths caused by the morning-after pill (which is proposed to be sold only by pharmacists from behind the counter) and no serious side effects that weren't caused primarily by other underlying health problems, while acetaminophen is the leading cause of acute liver failure requiring transplant in the US and has killed quite a number of people (and yet any little kid can buy it off the shelf, no questions asked).
Personally, I'm no fan of the nanny-state, and don't think prescriptions should be required for anything but highly addictive narcotics, certain antibiotics that are really likely to cause dangerously resistant strains to develop, and drugs with extreme potential for serious abuse and few legitimate uses (like the "date rape" drug Rohypnol) -- in other words, drugs which are very likely to end up causing serious harm to someone OTHER than the person buying them. But there's no reason to put things like acetaminophen out on the shelf where minors and illiterate or mentally impaired adults can buy it without anyone mentioning to them that they really need to be careful about dosage and need to check if other medications they're taking also contain acetaminophen. It's not a significant infringement on my freedom to have to ask the pharmacist to hand me something I want (heck, I have to do that at the deli when I want a pound of potato salad!). But there still hasn't been a peep from any legislative or regulatory body about putting acetaminophen behind the counter; just a proposal for a more prominent warning on the labels.