On January 31, 2013, Novartis OTC, the company that makes Triaminic syrups and Theraflu products, announced a voluntary recall of these two products and their variations.
All together there are over 24 products listed in this particular recall.
These products have child safety caps that don’t work, so a small child could potentially remove the cap and drink the medication.
Triaminic and Theraflu both contain acetaminophen and diaphenhydramine which can make a child sick if he gets an overdose.
Federal law requires that anything containing these products has child safety caps on them.
The recall began because of a consumer complaint lodged with the company in November. Now, here’s the thing. There are 183 lots included in the recall and all were distributed between May 2010 and December 2011.
The company suspects that the majority of the products have already been used up. Really?
I don’t know about you, but when I buy over the counter medications, it is usually because someone in my family needs them right then. I generally don’t stock a three year supply of Theraflu.
I am not even sure what the expiration dates are on those things, but it seems to me that three years is too long to have a medication sitting around.
It just seems a little weird to be telling people to contact the company for a refund when it’s got to be pretty obvious to everyone that the damage has basically already been done.
They do have a way of reporting that your child “may have ingested the product several weeks ago”.
Don’t you know, that is going to be a headache for someone to sort out. At least they should have plenty of over the counter pain relievers to help, right?
Do you think manufacturers should do recalls on things that are years beyond manufacture or is it just a waste of time?
Source: Novartis OTC
photo credit: mark sebastian via photopin cc
