Entry bubble Diet Pill Warning

By: Joanne | December 30, 2008 | Category: Health

a bottle of pillsHow timely. Just when half the country is looking for an easy way lose weight in 2009, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has come out with a warning about tainted, unsafe weight loss pills. This is not just one product, but actually more than 25 different products that contain dangerous chemicals.

So far, there’s no recall and these products are still available to consumers, so if you’ve got a bottle of “natural” or “herbal” weight loss pills in the house, check to be sure that yours isn’t on the list of tainted products.

Come on, we all know that these kinds of products aren’t the answer anyway. We think it would be wonderful if we could just pop a pill once a day and have the figure of a supermodel. Sure, weight loss pills and slimming diets can help us lose a few pounds, but once you’re off the diet, the pounds always creep back.

To risk sounding old and wise, I have to tell you that it’s all about your every day food choices and exercise. Really. You know I like to ride my bike, and I have to confess that I’m riding my stationary bike while I'm writing this. That’s right, I can pedal and type at the same time. I get some exercise and changed my diet and I’m here telling you it works and it’s not so terrible. I needed a nutritionist to help me figure out what I need to do, but if you don’t want to spend the money then head to nutrition.gov and read up. Make a little effort, and you’ll get the lasting weight control you’re looking for and you won’t need the silly pills after all.

| View Comments [0] | envelope E-mail This Entry | Tags: diet   joanne   loss   pill   recall   warning   weight  

 

Entry bubble New Label Warnings on Over-the-Counter Children's Medicines

By: Stephanie | November 17, 2008 | Category: Health

A mom giving her baby medicine with a dropperThey are the doctor's words that send chills up a parent's spine.

"Discontinue giving your baby that medicine immediately!"

A routine call to my baby's doctor last week left me more concerned than I was before I called about his lingering cold. Apparently the over-the-counter antihistamine that the pediatrician had prescribed for him was no longer recommended for babies.

The panic I felt was too similar to last year's discovery that my infant son's baby bottles contained the potentially harmful chemical, bisphenol A. And the shock I had several months later when over-the-counter infant cough medicines (including the one prescribed for my little guy) were taken off the market because they were potentially harmful.

I delved into the Internet to learn what I could about the most recent change in the minimum age for certain medications. I found that it was the latest development during an ongoing study by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of over-the-counter children's cough and cold medicine, an annual $2 billion industry.

 

In January, FDA issued a nationwide Public Health Advisory recommending that these products not be used in children under the age of two because of the risk of serious and potentially life-threatening side effects.

Now, the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (the nonprofit for over-the-counter medicine companies) has announced that its members are voluntarily modifying their cough and cold medicine labels to state "do not use" in children under four years of age—a move that FDA supports. The companies are also introducing new child-resistant packaging and new measuring devices for the products.

The labels will change in the coming months, says FDA, while the medicines' availability will not be affected.

You can see a list of the products that will sport the new warning labels. You might also be interested in FDA's tips for giving over-the-counter cough and cold medicine to children, and information about giving nonprescription medicine to children in general.

You can also subscribe to FDA's e-mail lists. I signed up for its press releases and consumer health information to hopefully help me know sooner if there's a change in an over-the-counter children's medicine that my little guy's taking.

Have you been affected by a recall or relabeling of a children's medicine?

| Post a Comment | View Comments [6] | envelope E-mail This Entry | Tags: children   cold   cough   drug   label   medicine   nonprescription   over the counter   stephanie   warning