
FDA is investigating complaints regarding homeopathic teething pills.
STATES CHRONICLE – The US Food and Drug Administration started an investigation on homeopathic teething pills which were meant to help babies. On September 9th a striking case determined authorities to take action. A child had experienced seizures after the administration of some homeopathic drugs. After a detailed analysis of the problem, FDA discovered that other four hundred similar complaints were made during the last six years and ten deaths were registered.
The link between those deaths and the homeopathic drugs prescription was not yet established. Parents have been complaining of other symptoms experienced by their babies, like lethargy, shortness of breath, fever, vomiting, constipation, tremor, sleepiness, irritability and agitation. On October 11, the agency has declared that FDA is still conducting an investigation to establish exactly if there is a direct connection between the homeopathic pills and those adverse symptoms.
Authorities claimed that these unfortunate events are similar to the ones analyzed back in 2010. Then, FDA associated belladonna toxicity with other teething tablets, like those produced by Hyland. Walgreens was another pharmaceutical company who voluntarily withdraw their homeopathic remedy for teething. CVS has removed from the market all their teething drugs, being cautious towards FDA’s warning.
Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, has argued that babies’ teething can be handled without using prescriptions or other homeopathic remedies. FDA representatives have stated that they do not suggest parents implement homeopathic pills or gels into babies’ care. They may ask for advice from their pediatrician to make sure they are using what is best for their children.
Dr. Toni Gross, from Phoenix Children’s Hospital, has claimed that these symptoms were reported to match the symptoms caused by a belladonna overdose, which represents the primary ingredient in some teething pills. If taken in large doses, belladonna could be very toxic. She also asserted that no one could know in what amount was that particular ingredient present in gels or homeopathic teething drugs.
FDA is analyzing all the symptoms reported in every case that was registered to manage to find a link and thus stop the production and the marketing of those products. Although we live with the impression that pills and homeopathic remedies are designed to cure whatever you suffer from, paradoxically they end up doing more damage to your body when they are not checked for their side effects.
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