The Saudi Food and Drug Authority Saturday warned against giving young children flu and cough medicines without prescription. The SFDA said that infants under two years of age in particular should not be given such medications without the express prescription of their physicians. In the warning, carried buy the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), the authority said these medications can be harmful for children at such a young age. The SFDA added that it had received reports saying that flu and cough medications are not of much use to young children anyway. The authority recommended that drug manufacturing companies should add precautions to their labels that warn buyers about potential adverse effects of these drugs on children. It also said that the addition of a warning to the labels may not deter pharmacists from selling the drugs to children, and as such responsibility falls with the consumer. Dr. Saleh Bawazeer, Deputy Executive President for Medicine Affairs at the Ministry of Health, said the authority, represented by the Drugs and Toxics Center, has started revising the ingredients and components of cold and cough syrups and medications sold without prescriptions, to determine their harms and benefits. He said that these medicines include anti-histamine, cough syrups and anti-inflammatory medicines, adding that the American Food and Drugs Administration indicated in a report occurrence of 120 deaths among children under six years because of using children's medicines. Some others, he said, developed serious complications and side effects due to wrongful administration and misuse of these medicines. Last year the American College of Chest Physicians said cough mixtures were of little use to adults and could harm children. Research by US doctors showed that plain honey was better than many expensive medicines. Professor Rosalind Smyth, chairman of the CHM pediatric medicines expert advisory group, said: “Coughs and colds are generally self-limiting conditions which will get better themselves, usually within a few days.” A similar warning was issued in the US in January. A small child receives cough medicine - but the treatments contain ingredients that could be fatal in high doses. In a simultaneous move, parents in the US were told to use temperature-lowering drugs such as paracetamol or ibuprofen to treat babies and toddlers suffering cold symptoms. They were also advised to use a simple cough syrup such as glycerol, honey or lemon, with vapor rubs for a stuffy nose. Parents of children under two who have any of the affected products at home will be advised to take them to a pharmacist or back to where they bought them. __
