Prescription medicines containing codeine or tramadol is dangerous for children under 12, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced yesterday. FDA also said that drugs with codeine or tramadol could also endanger the lives of people between 12 and 18.
In an official release, FDA said that they would require prescription medicines with codeine or tramadol a warning on the label. It would indicate that these medicines should not be used by children under 12 or women who are breastfeeding their children.
The agency also showed evidence that prescripted medicine with codeine or tramadol could cause dangerous effects to children. This includes slow breathing that could lead to the child's death, WebMD has reported.
Douglas Throckmorton, deputy director of regulatory programs at the FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said that they have been watching out the dangerous effects of codeine or tramadol to children for years. He said that these medicines are powerful and effective only when used right.
The agency also warned young people between 12 and 18 who are obese or having breathing problems like sleep apnea and lung disease to also use prescripted medicines with codeine or tramadol with caution. Same effects mentioned before would also be experienced if not taken with proper precaution.
FDA also suggests that parents should consult their doctors first before giving medicines with codeine like cough syrup and medications for cold and flu symptoms. They also said that colds and coughs in kids are generally mild and it would not require any sorts of medicine as it goes away for few days.
Cough syrup and medications for cold and flu are not the only prescripted drugs containing codeine or tramadol. The painkiller Tylenol 3 also contains acetaminophen and codeine.
The announcement made by FDA was a partial acceptance of the recommendations made by an independent committee last 2015. They recommended that the agency should restrict the prescription of medicines with codeine to children and ban the over-the-counter sale of codeine-containing cough syrup for children.
