It's part of the "special relationship" the US has with the UK: we copy their ubiquitous surveillance state apparatus, and they get our cold medicine ban for kids under two.
The BBC reports that The Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, or MHRA, Britain's FDA, has ordered the removal of six cold medicines for infants, and ordered the relabeling of almost 100 more to advise against their use for kids under 2yo.
The reasons stated are the same--fear of accidental overdoses from combination medicines, lack of scientifically proved benefits for kids that young. The real difference is the awesomeness of the drug names:
Asda Children's Chesty Cough Syrup, Calcough Chesty and Boots Chesty Cough Syrup - one year plus.I'm sure you'll tell me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Boots Chesty in Diamonds Are Forever?Also, Children's Chesty Cough and Boots sore throat and cough linctus one year plus and Buttercup infant cough syrup.
Six baby cough medicines pulled [bbc via dt reader becster]
Great.... now more parents will be forced to come up with improvised dosages based on the children's version.
Man, I've got to say, if there's one good thing that came out of this, it's that we tried honey and we're sold. It works great for us, and we figured out that if you put a drop of water in the bottom of the spoon you can just slide it right into the little monkey's mouth.
health disclaimer: don't use honey for the under-1s. Infant botulism is rare but a damn sight worse than a cough.
Chesty Morgan! (Google her.)
[Chesty LaRue! -ed.]