>I looked at the ingredients on the Pepto bottle I have, and saw nothing
>that looked like asprin, so I called them directly.  The woman that
>answered the phone put me on hold to double check, and she said there
>is no asprin in any of their Pepto products.  "
 
I have been confused too, I know aspirin is a salicylate I think
aceta-salicylic acid ( since it's common abbreviation is ASA), and pepto
is bismuth sub-salicylate also a salicylate.  I never hear of people with
aspirin allergies can't take pepto though, not even a warning.  SO, I
checked their website and this is what it said about aspriin and pepto
 
"The cause of Reye Syndrome is still not understood despite a
tremendous amount of research.  However, the FDA mandated warning for
aspirin-containing products states "Children and teenagers should not
use this medicine for chicken pox or flu symptoms before a doctor is
consulted about Reye's syndrome, a rare but serious illness reported to
be associated with aspirin."  There is no aspirin in Pepto-Bismol.  The
active ingredient in Pepto-Bismol is bismuth subsalicylate, a non-aspirin
salicylate.  Salicylates are commonly used as flavoring agents in food
(wintergreen).  The United States Food & Drug Administration's OTC Final
Monograph states that there is no definitive evidence that associates use
of non-aspirin salicylates with an increased risk of Reye s syndrome.  "
 
I will comment that I had to call poison control once for a child that
ate something with wintergreen oil in it and was told it has salicylate
in it , and was akin to aspirin, so I was to draw a level of salicylate
to make sure there was no overdose.
 
A drug book I have says 'precautions' may cause Reye syndrome, contains
salicylate.  So who knows?  Seems like it probably really is not a big
deal, the product has been around forever and I never see any news about
it causing any illness,etc.
 
BTW, kaopectate recently changed their formula to contain bismuth
subsalicylate, so basically it is the same as pepto now.  I am not sure
when it changed, so just read the label if you have this product to see.
 
Patty
[Posted in FML issue 4478]