The Food and Drug Administration is set to rewrite old regulations that dictate how cold and cough medicines can be marketed for children.

An estimated 95 million packages of children’s over-the-counter cold and cough medicines are sold each year in the U.S. under a range of brand names, including Johnson & Johnson’s Tylenol Plus Cold, Novartis AG’s Triaminic and Wyeth’s Robitussin, according to industry estimates.

John Jenkins, the FDA’s office of new drugs director, said the system that currently governs over-the-counter cold and cough products was really designed to grandfather the over-the-counter medicines that were on the market in the 1960s. The system allowed certain active ingredients (such as those in decongestants) to be legally marketed without obtaining prior FDA approval for each individual product. The studies used to establish the safety of those ingredients were mostly done in adults; current dosing recommendations for kids are simply reduced from adult doses.

A Tinley Park, Illinois couple is suing the Department of Children and Family Services, claiming they removed their toddler from their home for no cause.

The 21-page suit seeking at least $50,000 in compensation was filed Wednesday by lawyers for the Family Defense Center, a not-for-profit organization based in Chicago that represents parents against the child welfare system.

The lawsuit charges that authorities “tore a healthy and happy toddler from her innocent parents.” Then, it alleges, child welfare investigators “held the toddler hostage until the parents agreed to forfeit their constitutional rights to live without unwarranted restrictions.”

A spokesman with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services said the agency does not comment on pending litigation.

On Sept. 17, 2006, Nataleigh Evans took a tumble while learning to walk and hit her head on a coffee table, the lawsuit said. When a red bump appeared, her mother, Jennifer Evans, took her to a pediatrician who made an allegation of abuse to the DCFS hot line.