Pending an investigation together with, among others, the World Health Organization, WHO, Indonesia bans the sale of cough medicines and other liquid medicines in sugar solution, reports Reuters. A “comprehensive ban” that the ministry considers necessary to prevent more deaths.
Same agent as in coolant
The country’s pharmaceuticals agency has identified five domestically manufactured products with a high dose of ethylene glycol – best known as an ingredient in coolant. They also found diethylene glycol, a cheaper substitute for the syrupy glycerin that gives the drugs their sweet taste.
The manufacturers in Indonesia have been ordered to recall and destroy their products.
Warning earlier in October
The WHO warned earlier this year about four cough medicines, manufactured by an Indian pharmaceutical company, which may have caused the death of around seventy children in The Gambia. They too had acute kidney damage.
On October 5, the WHO announced that the medicines contained “unacceptable” levels of ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol.
The company in question, which exports to several developing countries, was ordered by Indian authorities to shut down production pending an investigation. The company says it has not exported to Indonesia, but global supply chains can be difficult to trace, it said New York Times.
Previous cases
Similar deaths have taken place before in other parts of the world.
More than 80 children in Nigeria died in 2009 after taking medicine for toothaches, according to the New York Times.
In the late 1990s, 33 children died in India after taking cough medicine and a further eight who had taken liquid paracetemol – both products containing diethylene glycol.