Laxative Linked to Kidney Problems

Fellow Injury Board blogger Jennifer Moore has an interesting post about a laxative that is causing kidney problems. The laxative, Fleet Phospho-soda, is an over-the-counter medication used to flush the bowels in preparation for a colonoscopy. The laxative has been on the market for more than one hundred years and the FDA has listed it as safe when taken as a single dose medication. However, in the 1990’s C.B. Fleet Company, the manufacturer of Fleet Phospho-soda, began marketing the drug as a double dose regimen for those about to undergo colonoscopies. In 2006, the FDA reported that it had documented at least 21 cases of kidney failure associated with use of this laxative and its generic equivalent.