Dear Friend,

If your child has a cold, give him plenty of fluids, some chicken soup, and lots of love. And nothing else. Under no circumstances should you give your child cold medicine. Ever.

The Centers for Disease Control just released a study that cough and cold medicines cause nearly 7,000 children a year to hospital emergency rooms. How’s that for a stat that makes you choke?

I’m not all that surprised about these results, because I’ve told you before that children’s cold medicines are bad news. No studies have EVER been done to prove that they’re safe – or even effective (trust me: they’re neither). And yet the FDA has let many of these medicines be sold over the counter for years. It wasn’t until early this year that the FDA FINALLY came out with a warning that pediatric cough and cold medications are dangerous for children under the age of two. Yup, it’s the old FDA hedge again. They don’t want to condemn ALL OTC pediatric cold medicines – that would cost their buddies in Big Pharma too much cash.

Once again, the FDA is late to one of my parties. Welcome guys. Have a cold one.

It seems as if these “new” findings are significant enough to actually move the FDA to make some kind of recommendations on the use of cold meds for kids between the ages of two and six. However the study could be blunted somewhat by the fact that in two- thirds of the 7,100 cases of hospitalization, the children took the medicines unsupervised. Whether this means that they somehow got hold of an open bottle and drank it or were left to handle their own dosage by their parents is not clear. Either way, it’s not exactly stellar parenting at work, is it?

But in a quarter of the cases, the kids in question received the proper dosage and had an allergic reaction “or some other problem developed.” Interesting phrase, huh? Covers a lot of ground. Thing is, when it comes to “some other problem” with kids’ cold and cough meds, that can include some pretty nasty stuff. It’s not commonly known, but these medicines have a wide variety of hideous and far-reaching side effects that are associated with adult diseases like arrhythmias, high blood pressure, and stroke.

The results of this study – like all CDC and FDA studies – is so bogged down in statistics that the truth of the matter is camouflaged. There are so many “yeah, but …” numbers that artificially soften the impact of the hardcore reality. Did 7,100 kids have to go to the hospital because of cold meds? Yeah, but two-thirds of them didn’t get the right dosage. Did the kids suffer from side effects? Yeah, but in most cases those side effects were allergic reactions like hives or itching.

You see, even though the government has put the soft-sell on this story to allay the fears of consumers, Big Pharma is still already hard at work to shore up their profits. According to Linda Suydam, president of the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (which just happens to represent the manufacturers and distributors of over-the-counter medicines), these results don’t say the products are unsafe. They merely point out that these medications are dangerous when they’re misused.

“These medicines are safe when used as directed,” Suydam said in her best corporate legalese. “This government review underscores the importance of educating consumers – especially those with small children – on the safe use and safekeeping of medicine.”

Yeah, right. Take it from me: The best way to keep your kids safe is to not buy this untested, and unproven, crap.

OTC ear drops can damage the eardrum

And the hits just keep on coming. While you’re carefully avoiding kids’ cough and cold meds, be sure you also stay the heck away from over-the-counter ear drops. A new study led by researchers from The Montreal Children’s Hospital (MCH) has discovered that some ear drops designed to soften ear wax can cause inflammation that’s so extreme that it could damage the eardrum and the inner ear.

Did you hear that?

One of the drops studied – a product called Cerumenex – is actually toxic to the cells of the ear! And in spite of the fact that these kinds of results were found in animal tests, these drops are available WITHOUT A PRESCRIPTION. It boggles the mind.

Incredibly, the doctors who did this research drew this conclusion: “Overall, our findings suggest that Cerumenex has a toxic potential and should be used with caution.” USED WITH CAUTION!? If this stuff has a “toxic potential,” is it wise to be using it at all? There are times when I’m not sure who’s to blame – Big Pharma or the doctors. Or should I blame the lawyers? After all, it’s the lawyers who prevent the MCH researchers from telling everyone that they shouldn’t use Cerumenex under any circumstances.

All of these over-the-counter stories should send a shudder through you. In spite of the veneer of safety that covers so many OTC medicines, there are a frightening number of cases where both the effectiveness and safety of the products are incredibly suspect. And the fact that I’ve just told you about two kinds of products FOR CHILDREN that fall into this category, well…I’ll hope you’ll stay away from the drug store next time you hear the little ones sniffle.

Saying over-and-out to over-the-counter kids meds,

William Campbell Douglass II, M.D.

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