Surgeons operate and physicians prescribe. However, some paediatricians know less about drugs, their prescription, and the legislation governing medicines than their surgical counterparts about anatomy and operative technique. For the first half century of its existence, the British Paediatric Association did not have a Medicines Committee. Yet it is now becoming clear that thirty years after the thalidomide disaster and the ensuing Medicines Act (1968), children remain disadvantaged compared to adults in the development of new drugs and in the scrutiny of old drugs.1 ,2 The two recent Crown Reports add to the complexities of prescribing for children but also represent opportunities for innovation to improve the quality of the service we can offer families.