Doubts On Safety Of Cough Medicine For Children.

Children's common cold and cough medicines are coming under scrutiny from federal drug regulators, who say the remedies and their recommended doses have not been studied enough in children, a newspaper reported.

Dr. Charles J. Ganley, a top Food and Drug Administration official, said the agency was "revisiting the risks and benefits of the use of these drugs in children," especially those under 2, The New York Times reported in Friday's editions.

Most over-the-counter cold and cough medicines have been insufficiently tested in children, said Ganley, the director of the FDA's office of nonprescription drug products. "We have no data on these agents of what's a safe and effective dose in children," he told The Times in an interview.

The FDA said it could not yet determine whether new regulations would result from the safety review, according to the newspaper.

A group of pediatricians and public health officials asked the agency on Thursday to bar drug manufacturers from marketing such remedies as Toddler's Dimetapp, Infant Triaminic and Little Colds to children under 6.

***** This is quite a scary piece of news. All this while we have at some time or the other given over-the-counter purchased cough mixtures to our children. The assumption is that if these medications are available in pharmacies and approved by our health authorities then it must be absolutely safe. Now to be told that they lead to all kinds of morbidities in kids, is frightening and leaves us in a helpless situation.

My main dilemma from now will be what am I to give my one-year-old child if she develops a cough or cold. Are any of the cough mixtures available today really safe or will we be slowly poisoning our kids? Perhaps our health officials could give a quick clarification and assurance as well as a list of what they determine are 'safe' cough and cold medicines for kids.

You can read the entire article from Independent Online HERE
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