NZ likely to follow British lead in cold medicine warning

New Zealand is likely to follow Britain's plan to warn against giving cough and cold medicines to children under 6 - if officials are convinced by new evidence on bad side-effects, including deaths, from the remedies.

"We will get this data, look at it, and if it stacks up, we are likely to follow the UK," Stewart Jessamine, group manager of the Ministry of Health's drugs regulator, Medsafe, said last night.

British authorities say more than 60 products must be marked with warnings that they must not be given to children under 6, and are not recommended for those under 12.

Some of the ingredients in the medicines have been mentioned in reports of more than 20 deaths in Britain.

A British drugs regulator said a review of 69 children's cough and cold remedies found no strong evidence they worked.

But they could cause allergic reactions, sleep problems and hallucinations.

In New Zealand, many cough and cold medicines can be bought "over-the-counter", without a doctor's prescription.

The ministry says more than 100 cough and cold medicines are available here.

They contain a variety of drugs, including decongestants such as pseudoephedrine, cough suppressants and sedating antihistamines.

Dr Jessamine said Medsafe would seek the new data and assess it as soon as possible.

In the meantime, the ministry's existing advice on the medicines should be followed.

"We have been saying since January last year you shouldn't be giving this to kids under 2. You should probably tip it down the drain if you have got it to treat a kid under 2."

Children aged 2 to 6 would probably not benefit from the medicines, Dr Jessamine said, but if they were administered correctly and the children showed no side-effects, "there's no need to worry".

"It's a question of are you doing any good."

The evidence was that the medicines did not give a lot of benefit to children under 12.

"There's clear evidence of risk under 2. There was not a lot of evidence of harm for

2- to 6-year-olds - what existed was mostly accidental overdose."

The ministry said few New Zealand children had been reported as having bad reactions to the medicines.

But the National Poisons Centre had received calls about overdoses of cough and cold medicines in children under 2.