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 reflects American domination, Aronson thinks standardisation is sensible, but he argues on p 506 that “adrenaline” should not be changed to “epinephrine.” “Adrenaline,” he argues, is more widely used worldwide than “epinephrine” and is historically and etymologically correct. He also fears errors arising from the confusion between epinephrine and ephedrine. He urges the WHO to make “adrenaline” the international non-proprietary name.