Cough syrup death cases: PIL in SC seeks immediate ban on medicine and probe

A public interest litigation has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking immediately recall, seize and prohibition on sale and distribution of Coldrif cough syrup, manufactured by TN-based Sresan Pharma or any related companies, pending toxicology clearance and verification of safety standards by NABL laboratories.

The PIL comes in the wake of deaths of children in Madhya Pradesh and other states allegedly due to consumption of a cough syrup.

Seeking a CBI probe into the deaths of children, the petition filed by advocate Vishal Tiwari urged the apex court to issue directions to the government for constituting a National Judicial Commission or an expert committee, headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court, to conduct a comprehensive enquiry into the manufacture, regulation, testing and distribution of contaminated cough syrups containing diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol. The petitioner has also sought measures from the committee for the safety and standard of medicines.

While seeking transfer of the FIRs to the CBI, Tiwari also sought a comprehensive inquiry into manufacture, regulation, testing and distribution of contaminated cough syrups containing Diethylene Glycol, a toxic chemical used in industrial solvents, and suggestions for safe manufacture of these medicines.

At least 14 children died of kidney failure after consuming cough medicine branded Coldrif syrup. The syrup contained the toxin diethylene glycol in quantities nearly 500 times the permissible limit. Diethylene glycol or ethylene glycol was also found in Indian-made cough syrups that had killed at least 141 children in Gambia, Uzbekistan and Cameroon since 2022, and another 12 children in India in 2019.