Dallas Morning News, March 2, 2007 CHICAGO - In response to serious new questions about remedies parents have relied on for decades, the Food and Drug Administration said Friday that it would study the safety and effectiveness of over-the-counter cold medicines marketed for young children. The agency's move came in reaction to a petition by leading pediatricians and public health officials who on Thursday urged the FDA to restrict companies from marketing certain cold and cough medicines to children age 6 and younger, citing reports of deaths, heart arrhythmias and other dangerous events. "This is one of those things where the evidence accumulates to the point where then finally the general community of physicians and scientists says this needs another look," said Dr. Wayne Snodgrass, who chairs the American Academy of Pediatrics committee on drugs and signed the petition as part of his role as professor of pediatrics and pharmacology at University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. "It's like a lot of things. It would have been nice to have done this earlier."