Tot's death spurs plea to raise age for taking pills

By LOUISA CLEAVE

A coroner has asked a health food company to reconsider the minimum age for its vitamin tablets, following the choking death of a 3-year-old Auckland boy.

But the company says it has no intention of changing its policy as it considers the pills meet New Zealand and international standards.

Nicholas George Poole died in April last year after inhaling an animal-shaped vitamin C and echinacea chewable tablet.

The pill was made by Healtheries NZ under the Kidscare brand for children aged 3 to 8.

Yesterday coroner Murray Jamieson recommended that Healtheries "reconsider its present policy as to its lower age direction for the product in question and any others which have similar-size tablets".

Dr Jamieson said the death of Nicholas Poole raised the issue of the safety of dietary supplement tablets for children - "in short whether there should be restrictions on tablet size and construction, given that ... young children may choose to try to swallow tablets which are meant to be chewed".

His findings will be sent to the Minister of Health, the Minister of Consumer Affairs and the chief executive of the Food Safety Authority for consideration.

Pathologist Jane Vuletic told last year's inquest that she believed Nicholas had inhaled the tablet the day he died. In her opinion, the tablet was too large for a child of 3 to be able to swallow.

Dr Vuletic said it might be appropriate to give a 3-year-old a chewable tablet but the circumstances under which it was taken were relevant.

Dr Jamieson said pills such as the one taken by Nicholas measured up to 13x9x8mm and were shaped as profiles of animals. They were irregular in shape and had some "sharp" edges.

He questioned whether the method used by Healtheries to decide on the age range for the tablets was "sufficiently rigorous in a safety [and scientific] sense".

The guidelines were based on information gained from discussions with people, including mothers, within the company about what age children could chew such tablets, according to evidence from Healtheries technical manager Richard Keene.

However, Healtheries managing director Sarah Kennedy said the company had conducted a full review of the vitamins and carried out international literature research in medical journals, which found chewable tablets were approved for children aged 2 and older.

The Food Safety Authority had told a police inquest officer that under dietary supplement regulations there was no specific provision relating to products for children, other than providing a required daily dose.

Healtheries had met those requirements.

"The Healtheries product involved in this unfortunate accident stipulated it should be used only for children aged 3 and older. We believe the age limit therefore is satisfactory.

"We also feel comfortable with the size and shape of the tablet in question."

The company would change the labelling on the pill "to better emphasise its chewable nature and highlight that fact to caregivers and supervisors".

Ms Kennedy said the age recommendation was also decided after international research and comparisons.

She welcomed the coroner's decision to pass on his findings to Government agencies and would share the company's international research and findings with them.

She said staff at Healtheries were upset by the death and extended their sympathy to the Poole family.