To avoid the risk of overdosing, Johnson & Johnson (J&J) will be reducing the maximum daily dose for Extra Strength Tylenol from eight pills to six pills, McNeil Consumer Healthcare, a pharmaceutical unit of J&J declared on Thursday.

The initiative will be taken keeping in mind the appropriate use of acetaminophen.

McNeil Medical Affairs and Clinical Research Vice President Dr. Edwin Kuffner stated that Acetaminophen has been a safe drug if used according to the prescription. But an overdose of the drug can result in liver damage. He added that sometimes people accidentally exceed the prescribed dose while taking other medicines which also contain a proportion of acetaminophen.

He said, "McNeil is revising its labels for products containing acetaminophen in an attempt to decrease the likelihood of accidental overdosing in those instances".

McNeil notified that around 50 million population of America uses acetaminophen every week to heal from pains, fever and symptoms related to cold and flu.

According to McNeil, the new dosing instructions will be out in 2012 and the labels on the U. S. bottles will now list the maximum daily dose as 3,000 milligrams and not 4,000 milligrams that mean up to six pills a day and not eight pills.