Five more states ban cough syrup allegedly linked to deaths of children in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan

Following Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Kerala, five more states have banned the sale and distribution of Coldrif cough syrup, which is allegedly linked to the death of 16 children.

The states are Karnataka, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Puducherry.

This came after 16 children, aged between one and seven, died due to kidney failure in the past month in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan after consuming the cough syrup.

The Madhya Pradesh government had asked authorities in Tamil Nadu to look into the safety of the formulation. On October 2, a report by the Tamil Nadu director of drug control found that samples of Coldrif cough syrup manufactured at a plant of Sresan Pharmaceuticals in the state’s Kancheepuram district were found to be “NSQ”, or not of standard quality.

The report said that the samples contained 48.6% diethylene glycol, which can cause acute kidney and liver failure.

Following Tamil Nadu's finding, on October 5, Madhya Pradesh also reported that one sample of Coldrif had 48.6% of diethylene glycol in it.

The permissible limit of diethylene glycol as an impurity is 0.1%. However, drug officials Scroll spoke to said that the chemical is unsafe even in trace amounts and should ideally be completely absent from an ingestible syrup. Its presence is a serious quality compliance issue, the officials said.

On Sunday, the Uttar Pradesh government banned the...

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