P&G announces voluntary recall of nasal spray

CINCINNATI Procter & Gamble on Thursday voluntarily recalled three lots of its Vicks Sinex nasal spray in three countries: England, Germany and the United States.

The company said it is taking this precautionary step after finding the bacteria B. cepacia in a small amount of product made at its plant in Gross Gerau, Germany. There have been no reports of illness. However, the bacteria could cause serious infections for individuals with a compromised immune system, or those with chronic lung conditions, such as cystic fibrosis. B. cepacia poses little medical risk to healthy individuals.

P&G detected this problem during routine quality control at the plant and promptly took action, the company stated. The company's analysis to date shows this problem is limited to a single batch of raw material mixture involving three lots of product.

In the United States, the lot number of the products is 9239028831 representing Vicks Sinex Vapospray 12-Hour Decongestant Ultra Fine Mist, 15-ml., nasal spray. The lot number is listed on both the outer carton and the bottle. P&G said it found the bacteria B. cepacia in a small amount of product from U.S. lot 9239028831 and is conducting testing on the U.K. and German lots that have been produced from the same batch of raw material mixture.