Cough medicines pulled from shelves
Two weeks ago I wrote about a possible ban on infant cough medicines. Now it’s voluntarily gone into effect.
From the New York Times:
WASHINGTON, Oct. 11 — Major makers of over-the-counter infant cough and cold medicines announced today that they were voluntarily withdrawing their products from the market for fear that they could be misused by parents.
The voluntary withdrawal affects only products labeled for “infants,� not those for use in children 2 and older. And some small companies may continue selling the products.
The move comes two weeks after safety reviewers within the Food and Drug Administration urged the agency to consider an outright ban of over-the-counter cough and cold products for children under the age of 6. Even the industry’s own trade association, the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, recommended two weeks ago that the products should no longer be used for infants.
Despite this recommendation, makers continued to sell cough and cold products labeled for infants.
This is no great loss as there was really no proof that these medicines were effective. Don’t panic if you’ve given your child a correct dose, as the voluntary recall is because of problems resulting from incorrect dosing, but the side effects (poor sleep, agitation) may not be worth the effort.
Here’s the full list of the withdrawn products.
Manufactured by the McNeil Consumer Healthcare unit of Johnson & Johnson:
Concentrated Infants’ Tylenol Drops Plus Cold
Concentrated Infants’ Tylenol Drops Plus Cold & Cough
Pediacare Infant Drops Decongestant (PSE)
Pediacare Infant Drops Decongestant & Cough (PSE)
Pediacare Infant Dropper Decongestant (PE)
Pediacare Infant Dropper Long-Acting Cough
Pediacare Infant Dropper Decongestant & Cough (PE)
Manufactured by Novartis:
Triaminic Infant & Toddler Thin Strips Decongestant
Triaminic Infant & Toddler Thin Strips Decongestant Plus Cough
Manufactured by the Medtech Products unit of Prestige Brands Holdings:
Little Colds Decongestant Plus Cough
Little Colds Multi-Symptom Cold Formula
Manufactured by Wyeth:
Dimetapp Decongestant Infant Drops
Dimetapp Decongestant Plus Cough Infant Drops
Robitussin Infant Cough DM Drops
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