Six cough medicines for children under two years old were taken off pharmacy shelves yesterday over fears of possible accidental overdose. The government's medicines regulator said it had ordered the action after increasing reports of adverse reactions by small children to drugs in the preparations, including five deaths since 1981.

Parents will be advised instead to use paracetamol or ibuprofen to lower temperatures in young children suffering a cold or cough and to give them a simple cough syrup containing glycerol, honey or lemon. A spokeswoman for the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said the products were not dangerous and would return to open sale once manufacturers had altered packaging making clear they were not suitable for children under 2.

?If it were a dangerous drug we would have it off the market in seconds,? she said. ?It's not dangerous, it?s what people are doing with it.? ?We have seen an increase in adverse reactions over the last 20 years starting to build up a head of steam,? she added.

The following six products directly targeted at children less than two years were ordered to be removed from shelves:

● Asda Children's Chesty Cough Syrup

● Boots Chesty Cough Syrup 1 Year Plus

● Boots Sore Throat and Cough Linctus 1 Year Plus

● Buttercup Infant Cough Syrup

● CalCough Chesty

● Bell's Children's Chesty Cough

The medicines can still be sold under advice by pharmacists to parents for older children.

?Children under two are more vulnerable due to their small size and therefore may be particularly susceptible to the effects of overdose,? the MHRA said.