Children medicines to be reviewed

WASHINGTON, Aug. 23 (UPI) -- Standards for over-the-counter cold medications for children will soon be revised, U.S. officials have announced.

Safety and effectiveness concerns about the products are causing the the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to revise criteria for the first time in decades, The Washington Post reported Saturday.

"Modern science has advanced since, and this is an opportunity to apply modern science to evaluate these products," said Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research in Friday's announcement. "This is the beginning of getting drugs that are widely used in children in the over-the-counter world using the same modern approach we've started using for prescription drugs."

The announcement came as a response to a March 2007 petition asking the FDA to restrict the use of the products, pointing to evidence that they can cause hallucinations, seizures, trouble breathing, heart problems and even death while not having been proven to be effective.