Consumer columnist and West Hartford resident Harlan Levy has more than 20 years of experience writing stories about everyday experiences that anyone could encounter.

By Harlan Levy

Hey parents and grandparents: It’s cough and cold season again! During our Thanksgiving week, when our daughter, her husband, our 3-year-old granddaughter, and their 4-month-old son, and their little yappy Schnauzer-poodle stayed with us, the 3-year-old was coughing and coughing.

We had some children’s over-the-counter cough medicine, which didn’t do much.

Why? As the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Nov. 6 notified me and everyone else who signed up for FDA news, oral phenylephrine, the main ingredient in over-the-counter cold and allergy medications, is useless, doesn’t actually relieve nasal congestion, and faces a nationwide ban.

Phenylephrine was touted as a congestion reliever that reduces blood vessel swelling in the nasal passages. But FDA researchers concluded that oral phenylephrine doesn’t work at standard or even higher doses.

The FDA’s final action would revoke the drug‘s designation as “generally recognized as safe and effective,” which permits drugmakers to include an ingredient in over-the-counter products without the need to file an FDA application.

”We are taking the next step to propose removing oral phenylephrine, because it is not effective,” said Dr. Patrizia Cavazzoni, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.

The FDA reassured everyone that phenylephrine is not dangerous, and, because the proposed order is not final yet, companies can still market over-the-counter drugs containing it. The expected final order would require pharmacies to remove hundreds of products, including NyQuil, Benadryl, Sudafed, and Mucinex.

Drug manufacturers, including Procter & Gamble, Bayer, and Johnson & Johnson would need to remake many of their oral cold and allergy products. Pharmacy chains like CVS and Walgreens could also lose significant income: They sold 242 million bottles of drugs containing phenylephrine in 2022, which generated nearly $1.8 billion in sales, the FDA said.

Here’s an old-fashioned alternative, according to generations of traditional caregivers: Honey. For each 2 ounces of honey, add a little bit of turmeric, a little bit of ginger powder, and a little bit of  black pepper.

More E.coli recalls: broccoli, carrots

Here we go again: On Monday Dec. 2, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration announced an active E.coli-related recall of multiple brands of vegetable medleys as follows: Wild Harvest Organic Vegetable Medley, Wild Harvest Organic Broccoli Medley, Marketside Organic Vegetable Medley, Marketside Vegetable Medley, Marketside Stir Fry Medley, 4Earth Farms Organic Vegetable Medley, 4Earth Farms Vegetable Medley, 4Earth Farms Broccoli Medley, Grimmway Organic Whole Carrots, among others. Most were sold by Walmart and other retailers in New Hampshire, Florida, California, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Illinois, and Colorado – not in Connecticut.

Home improvement contractors

Recently we hired our longtime home improvement contractor, Sandy, to undertake some projects big and small – from working on a faulty water heater that had suddenly turned hot water brown to installing bidets in three of our bathrooms. Our question when we first met him was whether he’s registered as a home improvement contractor with the Secretary of the State, as the Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) requires, which ensures financial recourse from the state to unsatisfied customers for jobs poorly done. For customers of contractors who aren’t registered, their only recourse is to sue usually cash-poor contractors. Good luck on that.

So, as late-season home improvement projects are proliferating now (in my neighborhood and other town neighborhoods) just before winter shuts down any such activity, DCP’s Occupational Licensing Enforcement Unit and a national partner participated in the third nationally coordinated enforcement effort. The team conducted 44 site inspections from Oct. 14 to 25, checking on licensing compliance within occupational trades.

A week ago DCP announced that 29 cases have been closed, nine Assurances of Voluntary Compliance have been paid, and 15 cases remain open under investigation, an overall increase from last year’s campaign.

“The Department of Consumer Protection is proud to participate in this national coordinated enforcement effort to ensure that contractors in Connecticut are working safely, with the proper training and credentials,” DCP Commissioner Bryan Cafferelli said.

The violations include practicing unlicensed occupational work, working with an expired license, working beyond the scope of the license, failure to supervise the work of an apprentice, and apprentices out of accepted ratios.

So before you hire people to, say, repave your driveway, flood-proof your basement, cut back threatening trees, fix your roof, make sure the contractors have satisfied all the requirements that will protect your investment.

Now you know.

NOTE: If you have a consumer problem, contact me at [email protected] (“Consumer” in subject line), and, with the power of the press, maybe I can help.

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