Alarm over banned food additives discovered in children's medicines

Published on Saturday 10 March 2007 00:58

ADDITIVES banned in food and drink for under-threes are present in some children's medicines, according to a report published yesterday.

A "cocktail" of synthetic dyes, preservatives and sweeteners were found in cough syrups, paracetamol tablets and teething gels.

One pain and fever relief product contained eight E numbers, the Food Commission found. Only one of the medicines surveyed - Superdrug children's dry cough syrup - was free of colourings and preservatives.

Most of the additives are banned in food and drink made for children under three but are still allowed in medicines for that age group. Some of the additives may cause reactions such as asthma or have a mild laxative effect.

Parents, and experts on diet and child behaviour, have called for artificial colourings to be removed from drugs where their only purpose is to make the product look more appealing.

The Food Commission surveyed 41 medicines aimed at children under three for its journal Food Magazine. Researchers found four synthetic colourings called azo dyes, ten preservatives and six sweeteners.

Buttercup infant cough syrup had two E number dyes while Calpol paracetamol, Anbesol teething gel, Sudafed children's syrup and Superdrug children's chesty cough syrup contained one azo dye each.

The Food Magazine report said: "There is an increasingly wide range of natural colourings which food and drink manufacturers can turn to, rather than using these synthetic and questionable azo dyes."

Preservatives were present in 31 of the 41 medicines surveyed.

Some of the medicines warned that these additives could provoke skin rashes or wheezing in rare cases.

Tixylix Night Cough syrup, aimed at children aged over one year old contained both benzoate and sulphite preservatives, the Food Commission found.

Food Commission spokesman Ian Tokelove said the additives were usually listed on information leaflets inside product packs.

"It is hard to avoid. If you are a concerned parent you are often not going to know what is in medicine until you get it home," he said.

The Food Commission is calling on the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which regulates the sector, to ensure medicines aimed at babies and young children are additive-free.

Responding to the report, the MHRA said manufacturers had to justify the presence of all additives before getting a licence to market their medicines.

The regulator discourages use of "unnecessary" additives.

Dr Alex Richardson, a senior research fellow at Oxford University, said she had been contacted by many parents who had noticed changes in children's behaviour after taking medicines, vitamins or food supplements.

"It is a minefield for consumers," she said.

Baby Rose 'went crazy' after a dose of Calpol

WHEN nine-month-old Rose woke in the night with a high temperature, her parents reached immediately for a bottle of Calpol.

But within a short time, Rose "went crazy", jumping up and down in bed and screaming.

Her mother, Sarah Burton, was concerned that there might be a link with the change in her behaviour and the medicine.

"I started wondering if Calpol had caffeine in it or something, but when I looked I noticed this E-number, E122."

Ms Burton, 33, from Edinburgh, looked up the E-number in a baby's diet advice book she had at home, which recommended not giving it to children.

When Ms Burton contacted Pfizer, the company said it had reported Rose's reaction to their drug safety department. But it said there were no plans to remove E122.

The firm said: "Colours are added to medicines to make the products look more appealing to the consumer, to make them readily identifiable, and to align the colour of each product with its flavour.

"Although some people feel that the inclusion of colourants is not necessary, many others prefer the often unpleasant appearance of a medicine to be masked."