VIDEO:
More limits on cough medicine
Cough medicine is not effective, according to studies.
In Florida, medication containing synthetically produced dextromethorphan cannot be sold to anyone under the age of 18 under a new law. A News Service of Florida report in the Miami Herald explains that the state's lawmakers took action limiting sale of the medicine after reports of teens using it to get high.
Concern about use and overuse of cough medication is nothing new. In a different context, the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2016 called for health providers and parents to stop giving codeine to anyone under age 18. Codeine: Time to Say No, a report published online, explained that response to codeine, an opioid-based drug, varied “from no effect to high sensitivity."
For years, health providers have recommended caution when giving over-the-counter cold medication to anyone under 18. But the common cold leads to "more health care provider visits and absences from school and work than any other illness every year," according to the Johns Hopkins Medicine website. While adults will catch cold two to four times each year, children get sick more than that -- an average of six to eight times. And toddlers in day care catch cold even more often.
So what can be done for a cough? The American Chemical Society explains what works and what doesn't in a new video (below):
Concern about use and overuse of cough medication is nothing new. In a different context, the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2016 called for health providers and parents to stop giving codeine to anyone under age 18. Codeine: Time to Say No, a report published online, explained that response to codeine, an opioid-based drug, varied “from no effect to high sensitivity."
For years, health providers have recommended caution when giving over-the-counter cold medication to anyone under 18. But the common cold leads to "more health care provider visits and absences from school and work than any other illness every year," according to the Johns Hopkins Medicine website. While adults will catch cold two to four times each year, children get sick more than that -- an average of six to eight times. And toddlers in day care catch cold even more often.
So what can be done for a cough? The American Chemical Society explains what works and what doesn't in a new video (below):
Related:
Doctors call for a halt to codeine
Virus poses international health threat
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