Cough and cold remedies aimed at very small children are being removed from the shelves today amid fears about the risk of overdose.
The Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has ordered that six products be permanently removed from sale for children under the age of two years. The products in question are:
The Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has ordered that six products be permanently removed from sale for children under the age of two years. The products in question are:
- Buttercup Infant Cough Syrup
- Boots Chesty Cough Syrup one-year plus
- Boots Sore Throat and Cough Linctus one-year plus
- Calcough Chesty
- Children's Chesty Cough
- Asda Children's Chesty Cough Syrup
These products will be removed from open shelves and will not provided by pharmacies for very young children. Around another 100 products will temporarily be removed from the shelves until such time as their packaging includes a warning that they should not be given to children under two.
According to the MHRA since 1981 there have been five deaths of children under the age of two where cough and cold mixtures may have been a factor. Concerns have also been raised in the US about the risks posed by parents administering too much of these medications to their youngsters. There is also a fear that parents could accidentally overdose their children by giving them two different products containing the same active ingredients within a short space of time.
MHRA spokeswoman Sara Coakley told the BBC: "It's a precautionary measure. They are not dangerous."
According to the MHRA since 1981 there have been five deaths of children under the age of two where cough and cold mixtures may have been a factor. Concerns have also been raised in the US about the risks posed by parents administering too much of these medications to their youngsters. There is also a fear that parents could accidentally overdose their children by giving them two different products containing the same active ingredients within a short space of time.
MHRA spokeswoman Sara Coakley told the BBC: "It's a precautionary measure. They are not dangerous."
"If they had been dangerous, we'd have had them off the market in seconds. Nobody should panic.
"There's nothing wrong with these medicines, it was the way that they had been given."
In future any person buying these medications will be questioned about the age of the sick child that the product is intended for. Children under the age of two are particularly susceptible to overdose due to their small size.
