The
Dangers of Pharmaceutical Cough Syrups and
The Natural Alternative
Keeping
kids off drugs is difficult these days; pharmaceuticals, that is.
Children make a large customer-base for OTC and prescription medications
and it seems
that what is good for the goose is good for the goslings as well. Now
we have learned that some of the most commonly used medications for children
(OTC cold
and cough remedies) are neither safe nor effective; and have never
been rigorously tested in children! Earlier this year (07) FDA banned
the sale of certain cold remedies for children less than 2 years
of age and warned parents against this use (FDA
Link), citing the common confusion on dose recommendation and potential
for overdose.
Last month, an FDA advisory panel concluded that these same cold remedies,
as well as cough remedies, are neither safe nor effective for children less
than 6 and recommended banning their use. These include some of the most popular
medications like Wyeth's Dimetapp and Robitussin, Johnson & Johnson's
Pediacare and Novartis AG's Triaminic products. They stopped short of concluding the
same for children under twelve. FDA has yet to rule on the advice of this panel
and may choose to allow drug companies to continue to recommend these products
for children under 6. It is only now coming to light that these products, which
were approved over 30 years ago, had never been tested for efficacy in children.
Researched Children's Product
Available from
Ortho Molecular Products
While finding alternative remedies with a published clinical trial is becoming
more frequent, often they are unconvincing or not published in widely circulated
journals. However, last year Ortho Molecular Products began distributing an
herbal preparation which has been clinically tested in children and found to
be both safe and effective. The full article, which was published in the AMA
journal Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, can be found here.
This trial showed that children ages 1 to 5, given the herbal blend (Echinacea,
propolis, vitamin C) had 50% fewer upper respiratory tract infections,
68% fewer incidents of otitis media, and 66% fewer incidence of pneumonia compared
to children given a placebo syrup over a 12-week winter season. When children
did get an illness episode, the children taking the herbal preparation had
a 45% shorter duration compared to those taking placebo. Additionally, children
were prescribed 50% fewer antibiotics and 53% fewer antipyretics when taking
the herbal preparation.
Ask your account representative (shop-orthomolecular.com) about Imu-Max, as
well as the full-line of products in our Springboard
line for maximizing children's
health.
Article taken on
10/16/2008 from https://www.orthomolecularproducts.com/documents/newsletters/Nov07_Validus.htm
From Validus, a publication of Ortho Molecular Products Vol 5 #11
Bolding and parenthesis added subtitle added
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