The poisoning of children in Madhya Pradesh state has sparked urgent calls to reform India’s massive pharmaceutical industry, which produces most of the world’s vaccines and a large share of its generic medications.
The recent deaths of more than 20 children in the central state of Madhya Pradesh have left Indians shaken and angry, as the country that sees itself as a pharma powerhouse faces painful issues regarding its drug safety protocols.
All of the victims were aged under five. Most of them died over the past month after they were prescribed contaminated cough syrup, containing fatal levels of diethylene glycol (DEG) — an industrial solvent and antifreeze chemical that can trigger acute kidney failure.
It was the same deadly compound linked to past tragedies connected to Indian-made cough syrup, including the deaths of 18 children in Uzbekistan in 2023, around 70 children in The Gambia in 2022 and 12 in Jammu in 2019 and 2020.
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India‘s Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO), state officials and other regulatory bodies responded to the latest tragedy by banning the syrup’s sale across multiple states, issuing pediatric cough syrup advisories, and launching an investigation into the manufacturing process.