Parents Warned Cough Medicines Imperil Infants

NY Times ^ | August 16, 2007 | GARDINER HARRIS

[neverdem]

WASHINGTON, Aug. 15 — Hoping to halt the growing number of injuries to infants and toddlers, the Food and Drug Administration issued an advisory Wednesday warning parents never to give cough and cold medicines to children under the age of 2 unless instructed to do so by a doctor.

The warning is part of a broad reassessment by the agency of the safety of the popular medicines, which have been blamed for hundreds of adverse reactions and a handful of deaths in children under the age of 2.

The F.D.A. will convene a panel of independent experts on Oct. 18 to discuss whether more prohibitions or warnings are warranted. Such meetings often signal that the agency is seriously concerned about the safety of the drugs under review.

The drugs’ labels currently advise parents to see a doctor before giving the medicines if their child is under the age of 2, but too many parents are failing to heed this advice, the agency said.

“We continue to see adverse effects associated with the medicines because people are not using them properly,” said Susan Cruzan, an F.D.A. spokeswoman.

If, despite label warnings, parents continue to use the drugs inappropriately in young children, the agency could take more serious action, like restricting the drugs’ wide availability.Most drugs that have been withdrawn in the past 15 years were taken off the market because doctors and patients failed to heed prominent warnings.

Some prominent pediatricians and public health experts said that the drug agency’s advisory did not go far enough.

One group petitioned the agency to ban the marketing of the drugs for children under the age of 6, and some said that the medicines should no longer be sold over-the-counter for use in children at all...

[Aggie Mama]

I’m just speechless. I shouldn’t be, but I am.

[rockinqsranch]

Following appears to be the only clue in the article without reading beyond the excerpt:

“The drugs’ labels currently advise parents to see a doctor before giving the medicines if their child is under the age of 2, but too many parents are failing to heed this advice, the agency said.”

So, either the parents cannot read the labels (English), or are sick of the kids, or are just plain ol’ stupid.

[SteamShovel]

Some prominent pediatricians and public health experts said that the drug agency’s advisory did not go far enough.

One group petitioned the agency to ban the marketing of the drugs for children under the age of ...........6,

and some said that the .............medicines should no longer be sold over-the-counter for use in children at all...

This is crazy, but hey, it's for the children and increases pediatrician income.