The Food and Drug Administration is calling for Zantac products to be removed from stores and homes.
Last year, the FDA issued a warning saying that Zantac and other heartburn drugs containing ranitidine can produce carcinogenic chemicals when left out in high levels of heat, according to Yahoo! News.
After additional studies, it was discovered that ranitidine — the active ingredient in Zantac and the generic brands of the heartburn drug — produced the carcinogen NDMA when exposed to heat, and even when kept at room temperature over time, Forbes reported.
“The older a ranitidine product is, or the longer the length of time since it was manufactured, the greater the level of NDMA,” the FDA said in an official announcement.
Patients using Zantac or other ranitidine products should immediately stop taking them and remove them from their homes, while properly following proper FDA safe disposal guidelines, according to CNN.
Stomach acid and ulcer drugs Pepcid, Tagamet, Nexium, Prevacid and Prilosec are still OK to use and have not been linked to cancer, the Hill reports. Patients taking Zantac should talk to their doctor and see if these drugs could be acceptable alternative treatments.