(A former GiveWell analyst told me in response to this blog post that he hadn't even realized deworming meds were making healthy children sick, and this was a major update against deworming's value for him: benjaminrosshoffman.com/effective-altr )
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That's my impression: givewell.org/international/
>Side effects of drugs. Albendazole and praziquantel may both have side effects, including headache, abdominal pain, upset stomach, nausea, vomiting, and fever.
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>There are some more serious claims for albendazole (adverse effects on growth; "reports of elevated liver enzymes, headaches, loss of hair, low levels of white blood cells (neutropenia), fever, and itching if taken at higher doses and/or for a long period of time");
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In Tanzania there was a riot because people didn't want to take the pills: cambridge.org/core/services/
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Just in case you haven't seen this paper on deworming riots that links to: cambridge.org/core/services/
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I can't dig it up but I remember something attributing compliance problems to the pills being huge, bitter, and nauseating.
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As a teenager I was prescribed antibiotics for my acne (a bigger problem in my parents' minds than mine), to be taken on an empty stomach, and I endured ?30m? of daily incapacitating nausea for months until I decided to eat first. I could tell other stories along the same lines.
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My propensity to eat prescribed poisons is probably related to my subsequent access to professional class jobs. This suggests an alternative mechanism by which deworming treatments could cause significantly higher incomes but ambiguous long-run health effects.
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Straight-up Molochian. twitter.com/ben_r_hoffman/…
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