Washington: Cold and cough medicines given to infants and toddlers work no better than dummy pills and can be dangerous, pediatricians seeking to curb their use told government health advisers Thursday.

The doctors told the Food and Drug Administration advisers that the over-the-counter medicines should not be given to children younger than 6 years old because they do not help them, and they are not safe. Such a prohibition would go beyond last week's drug industry move to eliminate sales of the nonprescription drugs targeted at children under 2.

The group petitioned the FDA, seeking in part a government statement that medications should not be used in older children as well.

The expert advisers began a two-day meeting to consider the issue. The FDA has yet to act, in part pending a recommendation expected late Friday from the joint panel of outside experts in pediatrics and nonprescription drugs, said the agency's Dr. Joel Schiffenbauer.

The medicines have been marketed for use in children for decades, with drug companies spending $50 million (?35 million) a year on heart-tugging ads in parenting magazines and elsewhere.

Still, it has long been acknowledged that little or no data exists from studies in the very young to show whether the medicines are safe and work.

Worse, some studies suggest the medicines are no better than dummy pills in treating cold and cough symptoms in young children, the petitioners said.

"When a treatment is ineffective, its risks if not zero always will exceed its benefits," said Dr. Michael Shannon, a Children's Hospital Boston pediatrician and Harvard Medical School professor, another of the petitioners.

The drug industry, meanwhile, maintains the widely used medicines are safe and work but can lead to death and injury from overdoses or misuse in infants. It estimates children receive 3.8 billion doses of the medicines a year.

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