What Doctors Don't Tell YouManufacturers of baby drinks are set to be sued by around 600 families who claim the makers failed to warn that the drinks could rot their children’s teeth.
Legal aid has been granted to start action against SmithKline Beecham which makes Baby Ribena Milupa, Cow & Gate, Robinsons, and Boots.
The families claim that the drinks carried insufficient warnings of the dangers to teeth of letting children drink them over an extended period.
Guidance on usage was added to the drinks’ labels in the mid 1970s advising against their use in dummies or propped bottles but lawyers say these were insufficient. According to a solicitor acting for the families, the drinks not only damage first teeth turning them into “blackened stumps” but can also leave second teeth pitted, discoloured and prone to decay.
SmithKline Beecham has already made out of court payments to around a dozen other families, but insisted that the details of the settlements remain confidential.
Daniel Redwood DC
Tom Ferguson MD
