The American College of Chest Physicians announced in January that over-the-counter cough syrups generally contain drugs in too low a dose to be effective or they contain combinations of drugs never known to treat coughs.
Columnist Julie Deardorff of the Chicago Tribune, Jan22, 2006 notes that the “quack-watchers” -various internet watchdog groups like “Quackwatch”, “Homeowatch,” “Chelation Watch,” and “Chirobase”, that take a skeptical view of virtually everything except pharmaceutical drugs and surgery-“were strangely mum” after this announcement by the nation’s chest physicians. She wonders why the news that Americans waste billions of dollars each year on these cough medications has not been denounced as a national scandal.
Terry Pfau DO HMD