Pharmacies will no longer be allowed to sell cough and cold medicine for babies below the age of one year, while for children between the ages of one and six, such medicines will require a doctor's prescription, according to new directives issued by the Health Ministry.
The new rules, which will take effect on November 1, follows similar directives issued over the past year in the United States and Europe
The change means that cough and cold medicine will henceforth be available only in pharmacies. Until now, the ministry had permitted two such medicines - Robitussin and Vitussin - to be sold at grocery stores and gas stations as well.
The ministry stressed that the new rule will not apply to fever-reducing drugs whose only active ingredients are either paracetamol (for instance, Acamol and Dexamol) or ibuprofen (such as Nurofen or Advil). However, it will apply to drugs whose active ingredients include pseudoephedrine, guaifenesin and dextromethorphan (such as Histafed, Sinufed Triaminic, Robitussin and Vitussin).
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration changed its rules after research showed that until age six, drugs with these active ingredients can cause serious side effects that far outweigh the drugs' benefits. Last summer, the medical journal Pediatrics surveyed cases in which children had died after taking these drugs. Some 18 months earlier, the U.S. Center for Disease Control had reported on the risk of children developing serious medical conditions after taking these drugs - usually due to an overdose.
But the Health Ministry acknowledged that implementing the new directive will be difficult, since parents can still obtain these drugs for themselves without a prescription - and once they have a drug, there is nothing to stop them from giving it to their young children.
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