
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is sounding the alarm on a brand of teething products, saying they contain a potentially toxic substance.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning parents of infants to avoid using certain products on their babies designed to ease teething issues if they contain a substance called belladonna, otherwise known as nightshade, which is toxic. Specifically, the FDA says that Hyland’s homeopathic teethign products use the toxic substance, and Standard Homeopathic Co, the maker of Hylands, said they have discontinued this product since October.
“We discontinued it because we are committed to our moms and our dads who choose to trust us to put medicines in their young infants’ mouths, and we didn’t want to put them in a place between the FDA warning and us saying the product was safe and having to decide who to trust,” said Mary C. Borneman, a spokeswoman for Hyland’s, in a CNN report.
These teething tablets have been around since the early 1900s and are meant to provide pain relief for infants who are growing in their first teeth. The safety alert was issued back in 2010, but the agency has received more than 400 reports of adverse effects since then and decided to act more decisively.
“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced today that its laboratory analysis found inconsistent amounts of belladonna, a toxic substance, in certain homeopathic teething tablets, sometimes far exceeding the amount claimed on the label,” the statement reads. “The agency is warning consumers that homeopathic teething tablets containing belladonna pose an unnecessary risk to infants and children and urges consumers not to use these products.”
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