Recently 12 children died in Udhampur district of Jammu due to poisoned cough syrup Coldbest-PC.
A team of doctors at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh, attributed these deaths to the presence of diethylene glycol in the cough syrup.
Following the death of children, the Himachal Pradesh government plans to file an FIR against the maker of Coldbest-PC cough syrup. The cough syrup is manufacture by Himachal Pradesh-based pharmaceutical company, Digital Vision.
What is Diethylene glycol ?
- Diethylene glycol is an anti-freezing agent that causes acute renal failure in the human body followed by paralysis, breathing difficulties and ultimately death.
- It is a sweet-tasting, colorless, nonodoriferous, hygroscopic liquid commonly used in the commercial preparation of antifreeze, brake fluid, cigarettes, and some dyes.
- It is also commonly used in human medications, such as acetaminophen and sulfanilamide, either intentionally or accidentally leading to episodes of human poisoning, several being fatal.
Fourth mass glycol poisoning
- According to the The Hindu, this is the fourth mass glycol poisoning event in India that has been caused due to a pharmaceutical drug.
- In 1973 at the Children’s Hospital, Egmore in Chennai that caused the deaths of 14 children.
- In 1986 at Mumbai’s J.J. Hospital 14 patients were died.
- In 1998, 33 children died in two hospitals located in New Delhi .
