WTO: India still has much to do on toxic cough syrup

INDIA HAS MORE work to do in halting sales of toxic cough syrup, despite some progress, a World Health Organization (WHO) official told Reuters, after at least 24 children died following consumption of a domestically-made medicine.

- JENNIFER RIGBY

The children died after taking the Coldrif cough medicine made by Sresan Pharma, which tests showed contained the toxin diethylene glycol in quantities nearly 500 times the permissible limit.

They came just two years after global pledges to tighten the system following the deaths of at least 300 children around the world linked to similar toxins in syrup-based medicines made in India and Indonesia.

But enforcement issues persist, the WHO said.