Over-the-counter cold meds for kids. That's why.

[Robb]

That's why "30 million gun owners don't kill everyone every year" arguments are utter nonsense.

In 2007, a federal-level public health panel said cold meds for kids under 6 didn't really do anything, and were causing deaths. They wanted them pulled from the market.

And the drug industry responded thusly:

The drug industry says the medicines, used 3.8 billion times a year in treating cold and cough symptoms in children, do work and are safe. It says that more parent education is needed to avoid overdoses that in rare cases have been fatal.

Sound familiar?

... But wait, "rare" cases? How many?

92.

92 kids under 6 dying from cold meds over 35 years of billions of doses every year.

And yet somehow, on this planet, in this country, the outcry over those deaths was enough to galvanize public opinion (headlines like "BABY KILLERS" were not uncommon). It took two weeks for the drug companies to voluntarily recall these drugs.

We thought those deaths were important.

Why are gun deaths -- exponentially more prevalent than cold medicine deaths -- not important?

[NYC_SKP]

1. Well, because drug companies make tons of money with or without these few OTC meds. Thats why.

Of course there are tons of other reasons, too.

But this one cannot be discounted.

[Ohio Joe]

9. ummm... The gun industry does not make enough money for gun deaths to matter...

Really?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/12/19/seven-facts-about-the-u-s-gun-industry/

Just a quick look at the google... Looks like they make plenty to me.

[NYC_SKP]

10. Whoosh. Right over your head.

My reply was meant to explain that the reason that big pharm relented so easily, in two weeks, is that they didn't have much money to lose.

Robb:

It took two weeks for the drug companies to voluntarily recall these drugs.

So, replying to the question:

Why are gun deaths -- exponentially more prevalent than cold medicine deaths -- not important?

To which I replied:

Well, because drug companies make tons of money with or without these few OTC meds. Thats why.

It should have been clear that I am submitting that answer because, in contrast to the Rx industry, the gun industry has A LOT OF MONEY TO LOSE from gun control laws, so they are fighting it.

Whoosh. Right over your head.

Ya know, sometimes we might agree on a thing of two.

[Ohio Joe]

11. I don't think that is better... It actually sounds worse

I do spend a lot of my time high so I certainly do mis-understand things more then most... Meh, It's better then the pain but go ahead and make fun of me for it... Yeah, I'm just too stupid to understand.

The idea that the makers of death will loose money so it's a justification that 'we' (as a nation) let the deaths slide... Thats some seriously fucked up shit right there. I say fuck 'em, let them go bankrupt if the alternative is they spend the shit loads convincing people and buying politicians so that the number of dead is worth their profits.

"Ya know, sometimes we might agree on a thing of two."

Could be... Guns does not appear to be one of those things.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

2. Why do I have to register for a government database to buy a Sudafed but not an AR-15? nt

[Robb]

8. ...

[gopiscrap]

3. yup, we've been brainwashed by the fucking gun lobby

[Arkansas Granny]

4. I was astounded when they pulled the cold medicine.

I realize that the medicines did not "cure" the cold, but it sure made the symptoms easier to deal with.

I have wondered how many more accidental overdoses will happen when parents who are at wit's end with a sick child try to work out how much of the adult medication they can safely give to relieve cold symptoms so they and their child can get some rest. You know it's going to happen.

[MisterP]

6. "think of all the Iraqis who AREN'T dead!" --Tom Tomorrow's Rumsfeld, back in the day

[pintobean]

7. Your story doesn't match the articles

time stamps in your links.

CBS/AP/ February 11, 2009, 4:00 PM
Panel Pans Cold Medicine For Kids

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/10/19/health/main3386225.shtml

Child cold medicines pulled over safety risks
P-I STAFF AND NEWS SERVICES
Published 10:00 pm, Thursday, October 11, 2007

http://www.seattlepi.com/lifestyle/health/article/Child-cold-medicines-pulled-over-safety-risks-1252356.php

The web must be tangled.

[Taitertots]

12. The whole point is that big pharm lied and the products "Didn't really do anything..."

But don't let common sense and rationality interfere with a good anti-firearms diatribe.

[Robb]

13. Turns out the gun industry lied to you.

Guns don't make you safer. Quite the opposite: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014597580

[Taitertots]

14. Have you even read the study?

I refuse to discuss topics with people when they are willfully ignorant about them.

[Robb]

15. In fact you find it offensive I even bring it up!

Harrumph!

[Taitertots]

16. I don't care if you bring it up...

But I'm not going to discuss it with someone who is willfully ignorant about it.

[Robb]

17. I know, right? I mean.

Some people.