Y2K Survivor

So one of the NYT's top ten Scientific discoveries for 2007 kinda pisses me off.  It turns out a group of researchers found this big ass clam off the coast of Iceland, it was over 400 years old.  It had settled to the bottom of the ocean's floor back when the English were first settling in this country.  Have you noticed I keep making references to this big ass clam in the past tense?  Yep, that's because in the name of Scientific discovery the voices of thought and reason killed the oldest living organism so they could count the rings on it's shell to determine the age.  Yeah Science guys! 

Now the question:  This past week several news reports claim that FDA has declared over the counter (OTC) cold medicines do not work.  But the more I look into this, it seems as if the FDA is only talking about OTC meds for babies and children under about seven years old.  So, any medical people out there that are familiar with this topic?  Sniffily people everywhere are a bit curious.