Nurofen for Babies??

I was astounded to see a very disturbing advertisement on TV last night whilst watching the news!

It was a pharmaceutical advert promoting Nurofen for infants.  Of course it was a ‘lower dose’ version!

What made me particularly ‘mad’ when I saw this is that the ‘authorities’ allow this type of advertising which in my opinion is dangerous whilst at the same time…in New Zealand anyway they are trying to stifle the free flow of information about natural product ingredients.

Why do I think that it is dangerous?

Well…it is a normal part of life that a baby will cry, usually when it is upset.  Sometimes all it needs is a rub on the back and a good burb and the problem is solved.

Of course sometimes the baby may be crying because it is teething which is also normal and part of growing up.

It is important that a baby can ‘express’ discomfort when necessary and the Mother can try to find out the cause…which is of course what has always been the case since the beginning of mankind.

My concern is that Mother’s will now consider that they have an easy ‘quick fix’ for when their baby cries.  Give them a pill rather than try to determine the underlying problem.

What impact are these pills going to have on the infant’s delicate digestive system?  Is it going to set them up for serious health problems in later life? I suspect no one knows the full implications!  I am sure that the pharmaceutical company doesn’t…and if did, would it say?

I wonder what they did to the ‘authorities’ to get approval to market this product?  I can’t see how they can do clinical trials on a baby to check long term safety??   

PS. The article on inflammation that I promised should be finished tomorrow.  I have to catch an overnight flight to Asia today and I have run out of time.  I plan to finish it on the plane.