JEFFREY SINGER ON the cold medicine debacle.

Just before cold and flu season is set to kick off, the Food and Drug Administration’s advisory panel last month reported that an oral decongestant Americans have relied on for nearly 20 years is no better than a placebo.

This ingredient found in popular versions of Sudafed, Dayquil and other medications has gained popularity since Congress made it difficult for people to obtain an effective oral decongestant. Now, lawmakers can correct that mistake before the winter cold and flu season arrives in full force.

In an effort to shut down homegrown meth labs in which people converted oral decongestants containing pseudoephedrine into methamphetamine, Congress 18 years ago passed the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act. Under the CMEA, the Drug Enforcement Administration ordered all pseudoephedrine-containing products moved “behind the counter” and required pharmacists to register and track people who purchased them.

The DEA placed strict limits on the number and dosage of pseudoephedrine-containing products patients may obtain in 30 days. Until last year, Oregon and Mississippi had required residents to get a doctor’s prescription. But as often happened to the meth lab “cooks,” the methamphetamine law has become a spectacular fail, backfiring on its creators and harming innocent bystanders.

Lawmakers should admit it was a mistake and get rid of it.

Yes. Plus: “It doesn’t take a conspiracy theorist to wonder whether the FDA didn’t want to undermine the newly minted Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act by telling cold and allergy sufferers they will all be facing limits on their access to oral decongestants. And it wouldn’t be the first time politics influenced the FDA.”

It’s now newsworthy when the FDA is driven by something other than politics.