Abstract: A safety syringe for preventing "needle stick" injury and/or reuse of the syringe includes a body (100), a plunger (127) mounted within the body, a protuberance (129) on the plunger for connecting the plunger to a needle holder (102) adapted in use to carry a needle at the end of an injection stroke of the plunger whereby subsequent retraction of the plunger withdraws the needle into a shielded position within the body. The syringe includes a braking device (123) disposed between the body (100) and the plunger (127) to retard but not stop the withdrawal of the plunger and needle after the injection stroke. The needle holder (102) includes a radially extending flange (108) which engages with a complementary rib (109) or groove on the syringe until the needle holder is engaged by the protuberance (129) on the plunger.