No kid under the age of four should be given the controversial cough and cold medicines! At least this was the message transmitted Tuesday by the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, a trade group for makers of over-the counter drugs.

Consequently, pharmaceutical companies will put this message on the products’ labels hoping that the number of kids ending in the emergency room with different problems related to the drugs will decrease. However, the products with old labels will remain on store shelves until they are sold, as the Food and Drug Administration has not decided yet on whether to recall them. The new labels will appear on store shelves by the end of the year.

Cough and cold medicines have been given to children for decades, but they were never scientifically tested to see their efficiency in kids. According to recent studies, these drugs proved to have some untoward side effects, mostly stemming from accidental overdoses.

This was the reason for which, pediatrics last week urged the FDA to recall the drugs, but the agency said it has insufficient data to do it. Moreover, FDA officials fear that such a recall would determine parents to give their kids adult medicines, which might have even worse side effects.

On the other hand, the FDA supports the decision taken by the drug industry saying that parents should follow very carefully the directions on the packages, said Janet Woodcock, MD, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.