US FDA to seek public opinion before banning popular cough syrup ingredient
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Thursday it would seek public opinion before finalizing its decision to remove a decongestant widely used in cough syrups from the agency's list of ingredients for over-the-counter (OTC) use.
The FDA's clarification follows a unanimous vote by its panel of outside experts on Tuesday against the effectiveness of oral OTC medicines made with phenylephrine, an ingredient widely used in cold and cough syrups.
If the FDA concurs with the panel's view, it will first issue a proposed order removing phenylephrine from the list of ingredients that are allowed in OTC drugs, and seek public comment on it.
After considering the comments, if the FDA continues to conclude phenylephrine is not effective, the agency would issue a final order on it and work with manufacturers to reformulate products to effectively treat symptoms of cold or allergies.
To be clear, they're trying to get rid of it because oral phenylephrine doesn't work. It's completely ineffective at being a decongestant.
Pill form doesn't do Jack shit either.
Pseudoephedrine works like a charm though.
Phenylephrine is also linked to birth defects in pregnant women, while pseudoephedrine is not. My wife's OB recommended sudafed when she had a cold. The pharmacy tech pointed her to the aisle with SudafedPE when she asked for Sudafed. So it's ineffective and dangerous.
Why am I not surprised.
The FDA is exactly the opposite of what it was mandated for.
I always (anecdotally) knew that this was just a cash grab by pharma companies to have "something" available without having to go to the pharmacy counter. It never worked for me, so I moved to other remedies if I ran out of psuedoepbedrine - steam, menthol, lemon/ginger/honey concoctions. All more effective for me.
I just go to the pharmacy counter because i'm an adult. No replacement for pseudo out there that i've seen in folk remedies. Do like honey and limon water for throat stuff though.
Yep, I've made my trips to go on the Federal List of People with Head Colds.
Oh yeah get public opinion on scientifically tested facts. Dont wanna be making evidence based health decisions
I wonder if this will trigger a pseudoephedrine shortage.
Fortunately I've been stocking up, since you can only buy one damn box a month.
Bastards.
I haven't had the 1 box per month limit pop up for me, even when my wife and I both get sick.
Purchase limit in Massachusetts is 9 grams per month and 3.6 grams per day. A single pill is 30mg so you'd need 300 pills to reach that.
An adult dose is 12 pills per day if you take 2 every 4 hours. You can take a full dose for 25 days a month before hitting that limit.
Now imagine being one person shopping for a partner and kids when everybody is sick. The restrictions are a real problem for a lot of people.
Sounds like @catwhomustnotbenamed is planning a cook
Hmm, maybe it's a state level thing then?
Thanks for the info, gonna have to look into it.
Why are they reporting it this way. The Administrative Procedures Act literally requires them to have a comment period on these executive rule changes.
By the way, they seldom modify anything about the proposed actions even if the comments are overwhelmingly negative. Reference all the recent ATF "rule changes" that essentially amounted to executive fiat gun control. In those rule changes the comments were 90% negative and the positive comments were obviously astroturfed form letters, and they proceeded with the changes anyway.
As soon as I start coming down with something:
Gargle warm salt water several times a day
Use a Neti pot (or similar) several times a day
I really don't take much...except for dextromethorphan, but that's just for fun