Panel Suggests That Cold, Cough Medicines Shouldn't Be Taken by Children Less Than 6 Years Old
ABC News
By ANDREW BRIDGES Associated Press Writer, WASHINGTON Oct 20, 2007 (AP)
The medicines long used by parents to treat their children's coughs and colds don't work and shouldn't be used in those younger than 6, federal health advisers recommended Friday.
The over-the-counter medicines should be studied further, even after decades in which children have received billions of doses a year, the outside experts told the Food and Drug Administration. The FDA isn't required to follow the advice of its panels of outside experts but does so most of the time.
"The data that we have now is they don't seem to work," said Sean Hennessy, a University of Pennsylvania epidemiologist, one of the FDA experts gathered to examine the medicines sold to treat common cold symptoms. The recommendation applies to medicines containing one or more of the following ingredients: decongestants, antihistamines and antitussives. It doesn't apply to expectorants, though many of the medicines also contain that ingredient.
The nonbinding recommendation is likely to lead to a shake up in how the medicines which have long escaped much scrutiny are labeled, marketed and used. Just how and how quickly wasn't immediately clear.
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