A fruit-flavored comfort pill for children which is actually a placebo has been roundly criticised by doctors. A company called Efficacy is marketing these pills by the trade name Obecalp in the US and these may also be marketed in the UK.
Dr Douglas Kamerow, an associate editor of the British Medical Journal, said the pill was a bad idea. "If parents use placebos to comfort their children, what are they teaching them? That tablets are the answer for all our aches and pains, and perhaps all our other problems too? Not advisable," he wrote.Dr Clare Gerada, from the Royal College of GPs, also reacted in the same manner. "It is telling them that unless you give your children this pill, there's nothing else," she added.
Jennifer Buettner of Efficacy said the pills were meant to help the body heal itself. However doctors did not find favor with these arguments.
Source-Medindia
RAS/L
