TN govt alerted MP, Centre of toxic substance in Coldrif, says minister

The Tamil Nadu government had warned the Madhya Pradesh administration and the Union health ministry about the presence of a toxic industrial solvent in Coldrif cough syrup — a move that, it claims, helped prevent a wider tragedy.

State health minister Ma. Subramanian said on Friday that Tamil Nadu had also alerted authorities in Odisha and Puducherry after tests confirmed contamination in the syrup, manufactured by Chennai-based Sresan Pharma.

The statement follows the deaths of at least 24 children in Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain and Morena districts, allegedly after consuming the adulterated cough syrup. The incident has triggered nationwide concern and revived questions over India’s recurring episodes of pharmaceutical contamination, including the 2022 and 2023 cases in The Gambia and Uzbekistan, where Indian-made syrups were blamed for the deaths of dozens of children.

Subramanian said Tamil Nadu had acted “within 48 hours” of the first reported deaths. “We immediately alerted the Madhya Pradesh government and the Union health ministry about the toxic substance in the cough syrup, but they said it was good,” he told reporters in Chennai.

He added that the state health department’s inquiry, ordered on 1 October, had confirmed that the syrup contained 48 per cent diethylene glycol (DEG) — a poisonous solvent used in industrial products like antifreeze and brake fluid. Even small quantities of DEG can cause acute kidney failure, particularly in children.

“Within two days, we banned the product, shut down the Sresan Pharma company, and suspended two senior drug inspectors,” Subramanian said, rejecting opposition allegations of negligence.

AIADMK general-secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami had earlier accused the ruling DMK of “regulatory lapse” and “failure to monitor the pharmaceutical supply chain”.

Subramanian countered that Tamil Nadu’s drug control wing had responded swiftly and that “in such cases, the incidents of crime are investigated by the police of the state concerned”. The owner of Sresan Pharma, G. Ranganathan, was arrested by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) from Madhya Pradesh with assistance from Chennai police on 9 October.

The Madhya Pradesh government has come under intense scrutiny for its handling of the crisis. A video showing chief minister Mohan Yadav curtly dismissing a reporter’s question on the children’s deaths went viral earlier this week, drawing widespread condemnation for what was seen as an insensitive response. Opposition leaders said the clip reflected the administration’s “indifference” towards one of the worst public health tragedies in recent memory.

Health experts and opposition parties have also accused both the Central and state governments of delayed action and regulatory failure. Despite Tamil Nadu’s early warning, national and state drug regulators allegedly failed to order an immediate recall of Coldrif across all states. Critics point out that such alerts should have triggered automatic testing, seizure, and public advisories — none of which occurred until fatalities were reported in multiple districts.

The World Health Organization recently observed that India continues to have “regulatory gaps” in screening for Diethylene Glycol (DEG) and Ethylene Glycol (EG) in medicines sold domestically, despite repeated incidents involving contaminated cough syrups.

Analysts say the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) and state regulators have not enforced mandatory raw material testing robustly enough. Investigations also revealed that Coldrif contained a formulation prohibited for children under four years, yet the packaging lacked the required warning — a labelling lapse that went unchallenged by drug control authorities.

Meanwhile, critics have faulted Madhya Pradesh’s Food and Drugs Administration (MPFDA) for not monitoring suppliers and distributors more closely. Only after public outrage did the MPFDA begin inspecting more than 30 pharmaceutical companies in the state for possible non-compliance in oral liquid formulations.

Even the Central government’s response, which included directing “risk-based inspections” of 19 drug units across India, came only after national media reports exposed the scale of the tragedy. Health advocates say such measures should have been preventive, not reactive.

Opposition parties have further accused the Centre and MP government of “blame-shifting,” with each attempting to deflect responsibility onto Tamil Nadu. “This is not a state-specific issue but a systemic failure of regulatory enforcement,” said a senior public health expert quoted in multiple reports.

Families of the victims, meanwhile, have criticised both governments for poor communication and lack of transparency. While Madhya Pradesh has announced ex-gratia payments and medical assistance, victims’ families say they were informed late about the contamination, and contaminated stock may still be in circulation.

The Coldrif episode has revived troubling memories of earlier DEG poisoning incidents in India — including the 1998 deaths of 33 children in Himachal Pradesh and the 2020 fatalities in Jammu — all linked to similar adulteration. Each time, inquiries recommended tighter oversight of raw material imports, stronger testing infrastructure, and real-time public reporting of quality lapses.

As India positions itself as a global pharmaceutical supplier, the recurrence of such tragedies continues to raise questions about accountability and regulatory culture.

For now, both the Union health ministry and the CDSCO have said they are awaiting a detailed toxicology report from central laboratories. But for grieving families in Madhya Pradesh, and for the nation’s already shaken faith in drug safety, those answers may come too late.

With PTI inputs