Here in the USA Bausch+Lomb has begun to market vitamins specifically targeted to eye health (Ocuvite). Being in a situation where mine can use all the help it can get, I purchased some the other day. By the second day I noticed a peculiar thing: The bottle they were in had no childproof cap! It was just a regular screw-on cap. Has the FDA changed their rules on packaging? Is the vitamin so innocuous that it isn't even strong enough to have to follow the rules? Is it imported from Germany and got by our guys watching drug imports and that they must follow US rules for packaging? Anyone know?

Maybe the importing company thought the childproof cap would present too much encumbrance for people with visual impairment.

Of course, any medication should be kept out of reach from curious children.

This is a long-winded answer by the FDA as to their involvement with supplements versus drugs.

In October 1994, the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) was signed into law by President Clinton. Before this time, dietary supplements were subject to the same regulatory requirements as were other foods. This new law, which amended the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, created a new regulatory framework for the safety and labeling of dietary supplements.

Under DSHEA, a firm is responsible for determining that the dietary supplements it manufactures or distributes are safe and that any representations or claims made about them are substantiated by adequate evidence to show that they are not false or misleading. This means that dietary supplements do not need approval from FDA before they are marketed. Except in the case of a new dietary ingredient, where pre-market review for safety data and other information is required by law, a firm does not have to provide FDA with the evidence it relies on to substantiate safety or effectiveness before or after it markets its products.

In short: It is required by regulation for prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications, pesticides, and household chemicals. 'Supplements' such s you purchased are not considered 'medication'.I take a lot of medication and got tired of the hard to open child proof caps. I sked for the easy open caps and have received them eve since.

Source: FDA

Last checkup with my eye doctor/surgeon , he told me to eat spinach.

That's possible, but on the other hand, people who have debilitating arthritis have to put up with pill bottles they can't possibly open on their own, so somehow I doubt that they had the recipient in mind as far as "kindness" lol. Nice of them if that's really what they were thinking though : )

I’ve started saving pill bottles that don’t have childproof caps so that any new medications I get can go in there—after the bottle’s empty, of course. I then make a label in Braille telling me what the medication is—as well as one with dosage or any other information.

I also take two vitamins, which I can tell apart but which I still label (the last time I didn’t, Mom had a fit because “that’s unsafe”.)

I’ve tried to open childproof caps and, years later, still get frustrated—so I don’t even try. I tell Mom now to either find one without, or put it in something else.

I even found a childproof cap once on mouthwash, and needed Mom to help me open it. Ever since, we buy a different brand—or, if it’s available, the same kind with a non-childproof cap).