Last month, a team of safety experts asked the US’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to consider an outright ban on over-the-counter, multi-symptom cough and cold medicines for children under six. It’s a recommendation that parents in India should also take note of.

The report pointed out that the impact of antihistamines or antiallergic formulations on young children could be dangerous. “From 1969 to 2006, at least 54 children died after taking decongestants, and 69 died after taking antihistamines in the US,” the report said. In India, no such survey has been carried out but here too doctors warn against the risks of overmedication.

Says Dr Satish Saluja, senior paediatrician, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, “Cold and cough, especially in case of children below six years, does not call for too much medication. The most common cause for these ailments is allergy and viral infection, which takes its own course to subside. Medicines give a temporary symptomatic relief but can also be dangerous for kids. Overdose can lead to drowsiness and irritability and even lead to irregular heartbeats. In extreme cases, it can lead to convulsions.”

The petition followed a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that found that more than 1,500 children under the age of two had suffered serious health problems between 2004 and 2005 after being treated with common cough and cold medicines. The Consumer Healthcare Products Association, an American industry trade group that has consistently defended the safety of pediatric cough and cold medicines, has also recommended that the FDA consider mandatory warning labels which state that the drugs should not be given to children younger than two.

... contd.