Take kids' cold meds off market, journal urges

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration should take the advice of its own panel of experts and immediately insist that cold and cough remedies for children be taken off store shelves.


That's the advice from an editorial in this week's edition of the influential New England Journal of Medicine.


The piece, released Thursday, says the FDA "should immediately ask companies to remove these products from store shelves and begin legal proceedings to require them to do so."


The editorial is written by Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, the commissioner of health for Baltimore; Marisa North, a medical student at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore; and Dr. Janet Serwint, a professor of pediatrics at Johns Hopkins.


In their appeal for action, the writers cite recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which says more than 1,500 children under the age of two were sent to emergency rooms in 2004 and 2005 after taking cold medications.

They also note that the FDA expert panel that met in October tied the deaths of 123 children under the age of six to the drugs.


The editorial casts doubts on the effectiveness of kids' cough and cold medications, saying that recent studies on the use of the products in kids under 12 years of age "have not shown any meaningful differences between the active drugs and the placebo."


The authors say they want the FDA to do three things:


issue a public statement explaining that the products have not been shown to be safe and effective for children under six;
take action against misleading marketing; and
revise its monograph accordingly.

Despite the recommendation from the FDA panel of experts that the products no longer be given to children under six, manufacturers have refused to stop their marketing, the authors note.


"The products and their 'toddler' formulations are still being widely advertised to parents in ways that suggest that they are known to be safe, effective, and recommended by most pediatricians," the authors note as they called for the agency to take action.

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It's about time! The junk that is in those cough syrups doesn't even help most kids with their coughs. More natural products work much, much better.

Here we go with the honey and lemon again My daughter refuses to use them anymore, using a vaporizer or natural medicine...She had also read that most of the dosages were wrong on the labels...I remember she had to give one of the kids cough medicine and say it said l tsp..She put it in one of those droppers and I said it looked like too much....She then put it in a regular teaspoon and it overflowed..There are enough do it yourself remedies that work much better, just have to look them up....

I have a book on natural remedies. I have recipes for cough syrup.

Those books are great aren't they..I gave one of my husband's to my daughter....come to think of it I have to check with her to see if she's used anything yet....she has short term memory, so reminding her of certain things is an everyday chore...

LOL, I have like 4 of those books. And when they all recommend the same thing, then you know it's right!

I understand the Authorities' concern (Trying to cure the common cold and the Flu) however, under 6's - forget it.

If they do not get their immune system working against such things, they are asking for trouble.

Slight sniffle, give them this medicine, slight snuffle, give them that medicine - slight cough - give them coughlinctus - the exact same medicine that gave me a rash that stuck ME in hospital for two weeks due to some stupid allergy, I was 6.

Thirty years later, thinking that I had got "0ver" this same allergy - resulted in me having swollen calfs (three inches swollen on each calf) - it was SO painful, I genuinely thought I would end up losing both legs, especially as they started turning black!

Let kids discover what they are allergic to and the do NOT let them use the same medicine again.

I foolishly used Coughlinctus twice, it could have been disastrous, it wasn't. I was lucky!

surely Calpol is fine for kids been used for donkeys years, i remember taking it when i was younger, tasted lovely like strawberries, sometimes people can be too clean,

I gave my son Triaminic once and he acted horrible! He's only 3 and he got violent and acted like a spaz, and it didn't help his stuffy nose at all. I threw the stuff in the trash and I will never give it to him again.

We have a bottle of the stuff. Haven't used it on our kids but I used it once for my allergies. It worked okay on me an I'm an adult.

I have two kids. Here is what I say. Let the kids cough, sniffle, and feel bad for a while. Lay them on the couch with some juice and their favorite TV or book and check on them occasionally.

I can't stand the idea that a child should never feel discomfort - natural discomfort - ever. Pump chemicals into their little bodies because their nose is running? Good grief.

the other day we took my daughter the the dr. here ears were hurting and she had a bad cough,,,that night wile i was at work my fiance called me saing frankie wouldnt stay in her room and was really cranky,,,i asked what she was saying fiance said,,,,she keeps saying she cant get comfortable she is hot and her room is to small...my little girl was high as a kite on the meds the dr. gave her..she was showing all the signs of someone tweeking,,,,we double checked the dosage and just quit giving it to her she reacted to harshly to it..she is only 6

Oh, your poor baby! And your poor fiancée! That is horrible. I know I react to some meds, I am not taking the chance on my daughter's health. But, the problem is that she gets a horrible cough after being sick because it activates her asthma, so I have to give her an inhaler, but otherwise, she gets honey. What I don't like is when the doctors (not all, but I've ran into a few) who look at you like you are dirt for not wanting to pump your baby full of meds. I wonder how much of a cut they get?

I completely agree! I use the Hyland's brand of homeopathic remedies, and they work great for my daughter, and she doesn't have any side effects from them. The only medication I use is Infant Motrin at night when her teething pain is really bad and she can't sleep. Even then, I called my pediatrician for the correct dosage based on her weight. Didn't even try to go off the dosage chart on the box. She actually has a head cold right now, and I've been giving her the Hyland's cold stuff with Vitamin C, and putting the Baby Vicks on her chest. It helps a lot. I am fortunate, also, to have a pediatrician who is a registered homeopath. She prefers using natural remedies first, and then if she has to prescribe medications, she tries to use the lowest dosage possible.

I believe homeopathic cures are junk. They cannot be proven to work more than a placebo effect. Certain herbs do work but they can be easily toxic. We try to limit what ours get, but when coughing is killing them you have to use whatever works. Since I used to be in nutrition, I do give my daughters vitamins, fish oil, and certain ant-oxidants. My daughter sometimes has sever allergic reaction to our dogs. I give her benedryl then.

i feel the same way with a lot of the drugs Dr. freely hand out without a second thought..my fiancee went to the dr.at my request because she was depressed,sleeping pattern was out of wack,she would have at times tons of energy and then no energy,and huge mood swings,,the dr listen to her symptoms and put her on anti depresents,,,no test were run one vist and a big ass script to fill...well her mood swings seemed to balance out but none of the other symptoms seemed to go away,she went to another dr asking blod work,,she did it to prove that i was crazy and it was something with me ....well it turned out she is hypoglasemic wich side effects are everything thing she went to the dr for,,,he never once ran a test just handed out meds and said next,,ive always had a big problem with this,,shes says im paranoid and i need a tin floil hat,,well she said that untill she found out she was taking meds she didnt need,,,shes been off the depression pills for a month now and working on keeping her blood sugar right and i can say its been a night and day diffrence..



but i also think flu shots make you sick,,,,,i got my last flu shot in like 98 the next flu season i got the flu and just fought the sickness at the house instead of going to the drs...i havent had the flu sence..almost 8 years no flu shot no flu...when flu season comes around double up on vitamens and drink my oj,,seems to work for me