BBC: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s happening again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early September, a cluster of unexplained child deaths in a small town in Madhya Pradesh sent local health workers scrambling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At least 11 victims – aged one to six – had died within days of taking a common cough syrup. Officials tested everything from drinking water to mosquitoes before the truth emerged: their kidneys had failed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Weeks later, a state laboratory in the southern city of Chennai confirmed the worst. The syrup in question contained 48.6% diethylene glycol, a toxic industrial solvent that should never be found in medicine. Kidney failure is common after consuming this poisonous alcohol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The horror wasn’t confined to Madhya Pradesh. In neighbouring Rajasthan state, the deaths of two young children, allegedly after consuming a locally-made Dextromethorphan syrup – a cough suppressant unsafe for very young children – sparked outrage and a government investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For India, this brought a grim sense of d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the years, diethylene glycol in Indian-made cough syrups has claimed dozens of young lives. In 2023, Indian syrups tainted with diethylene glycol were linked to the deaths of 70 children in The Gambia<\/a> and 18 in Uzbekistan<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Between December 2019 and January 2020, at least 12 children under five died<\/a> in Jammu in Indian-administered Kashmir allegedly from cough syrup, with activists suggesting the number of casualties might have been higher. In the past, there’s also been abuse of cough syrups containing codeine<\/a>, a mild opioid that can produce euphoria in high doses and lead to dependence, and is not advised for young children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each time regulators promise reform, contaminated syrups reappear – reflecting a fragmented drug market and, critics allege, a weak regulatory system struggling to oversee hundreds of low-cost, often unapproved syrups produced by smaller manufacturers and sold over the counter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n