Here We Go Again…Another Tylenol Recall…Do You Need Any More Reason to Stop Using These Products?

According to CNN, more than 40 over-the-counter children’s drugs are being recalled due to the fact they don’t meet quality standards. Those drugs include Tylenol and Motrin among others. The recall was issued after Consumer Healthcare, Division of McNEIL-PPC consulted with the Food & Drug Administration and determined the OTC drugs didn’t measure up in terms of quality.

According to the Consumer Healthcare organization, the recall is not due to any reported “adverse medical events” but rather as a precautionary measure. Parents shouldn’t use the recalled products for their kids. These include Tylenol Infants’ Drops, Children’s Tylenol Suspensions, Children’s Tylenol Plus Suspensions, Motrin Infant Drops, Children’s Motrin Suspensions, Children’s Zyrtec Liquids in Bottles and Children’s Benadryl Allergy Liquids in Bottles. The drugs were manufactured in the United States and distributed to other countries – Canada, the Dominican Republic, Dubai, Fiji, Guam, Guatemala, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Panama, Trinidad & Tobago and Kuwait.

Source:Tylenol recall 2010 – CNN reports 40 plus OTC childrens drugs recalled By Matt Clark

I don’t use over-the-counter medicines for my son because I don’t believe that the medicine itself is safe but now on top of that we have new concerns. Keep reading.

According to CNN reports, the FDA conducted an inspection is April that concluded in a lapse of quality and security.

To begin, McNeil (manufacturer) did not take “corrective and preventative action” during the 2009-2010 complaints about black specks being seen within the medication.

The lab was also cited for not following quality control and maintaining adequate lab conditions.

To make your stomach turn even more, McNeil purchased raw materials that were infected with a bacteria, which had not been identified by the FDA. McNeil is on the defense saying this raw material did not reach the finished products – that’s questionable considering what we are learning about their work, safety and health ethics.

Factory workers are not given proper training on good manufacturing practices and written procedures.

And to top of the poor quality and low ethics at McNeil, “tiny particle” found in the children’s medicine line may be manufacturing residue such as tiny metal parts!

Source: UPDATE Tylenol Recall 2010: Shocking Factory Conditions (FULL RECALL LIST) by Charissa Woodrow

Here is a full list of the RECALLED ITEMS

Please realize that there are alternatives to these despicable products put out by big pharma.

Go to your local health food store and talk to the owner. Browse around the quality online stores that I have recommended over and over.  You will find safe, effective products for any ailment you can possibly think of and you will never have to worry about side effects.  Homeopathic and herbal remedies are easily available for us and our children if we only just take the time to find them.

Better yet, learn how to support your child’s immune system so they have less of a need for any medications at all.

While we are on the subject let’s discuss the reason for giving these medicines to begin with.  I think that most parents use Tylenol and Ibuprofen to lower a fever, which in most cases is unnecessary.

Yes, I said unnecessary. A fever is the body doing exactly what it is supposed to be doing, killing the offender.  When you give fever reducing medicines you are interfering with the body’s natural defense system and even prolonging the illness.

The most brilliant yet common sense thing my doctor ever told me was  ‘the body will never elicit a fever high enough to harm itself ‘.   Just think about it.  The body creates a fever in order to defend itself from the invader, it is not going to harm itself in the process.

Now certainly this is different for children who have conditions such as febrile seizures or serious illnesses like meningitis or even poisoning or heat stroke that can cause dangerously high fevers.  That is an artifically caused fever and not a natural response of the body. And you should absolutely discuss this with your doctor to determine if fever reducing medicine is really necessary.  In most cases doctors only recommend these drugs in order to appease worried parents, not because it is necessary.

What I am referring to is the everyday cold or flu that sparks a natural bodily response in the form of a mild or moderate fever causing parents across the continent to run for the Tylenol.  If your child is relatively comfortable and can power thru the fever then why risk giving repeated doses of a drug that has monumentally proven itself unsafe?

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