Select Language:
An owner of an Indian pharmaceutical company has been detained following the connection between a cough syrup produced at his facility and the deaths of 21 children, officials announced Thursday. The majority of these young victims, all under five years old, passed away in Madhya Pradesh after being administered the contaminated syrup over the past month. The toxin present in the drug proved to be lethal even in small quantities.
Indian-manufactured cough syrups have faced increasing international concern in recent years, with reports of fatalities linked to their use surfacing in multiple countries. Such incidents have tarnished India’s reputation as a leading global producer of pharmaceuticals, ranking third in volume.
G Ranganathan, age 75, was taken into custody early Thursday at his residence in Chennai by police teams from the city and Madhya Pradesh. Authorities have charged him with culpable homicide not amounting to murder and drug adulteration, according to police sources and reports from Indian media.
The implicated product, marketed as Coldrif, was produced by Sresan Pharma at a facility in Tamil Nadu, a southern Indian state. The health ministry stated that tests confirmed the syrup was tainted with diethylene glycol (DEG), a hazardous industrial solvent that can be fatal, even in trace amounts.
Several Indian states, including Madhya Pradesh, have issued bans on the syrup. Reports indicate that the World Health Organization has requested clarification from Indian officials regarding whether the product has been exported to other nations. In past years, more than 70 children in Gambia died from acute kidney failure after ingesting a similar Indian-imported cough syrup, and between 2022 and 2023, 68 children in Uzbekistan succumbed to the effects of another contaminated Indian-made syrup.
ChatGPT
Perplexity
Gemini AI
Grok AI
