Just one week before the Food and Drug Administration is to hold hearings on the safety of over the counter cough and cold medications for children, the industry has finally reacted. The cold medicine industry trade group, the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, has announced that major drug manufacturers will pull off the market 14 cough and cold remedies for children. This is because what they did not tell you is that coughing can be good; it is the mechanism by which the body gets rid of mucous. If you inhibit coughing, you inhibit this mechanism and the mucous stays in the lungs. The results: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that about 1500 children across the nation were treated in emergency rooms for bad reactions to over the counter cough and cold medicines from 2004 to 2005. From 1969 to 2006, the FDA found at least 54 children died after taking decongestants, and 69 children died after taking antihistamines. That is a total death toll of 123. That means 123 wrongful deaths of children including infants. According to Dr. Peter Antevy, a pediatric emergency medicine physician at Joe Dimaggio Children’s Hospital in Hollywood, Florida, “This is a long time coming”.

The medicines include various medicines for children or infants under the names of Dimetapp, Little Colds, Pediacare, Robitussin, Triaminic, and Tylenol.