A massacre of the innocents.

"The deaths of 69 children from acute kidney injury in Gambia is linked to four cough syrups made in India and imported into the West African country via a US-based pharmaceutical company, the Gambian police said in a preliminary investigation report." Reuters. "The Indian authorities and the cough syrup manufacturer, Maiden Pharmaceuticals, say these syrups have been exported to The Gambia only." BBC. Thank god. The massacre has been limited. "Maiden Pharmaceuticals says it adheres to internationally recognised quality control standards." But, It "was blacklisted by Bihar state, in 2011," "was subject to legal proceedings by India's drug regulator, in 2018," "failed a quality-control test in Jammu and Kashmir state, in 2020," and "has failed quality-control tests in Kerala state four times in 2022." "When the Gambian authorities sent 23 suspected medicine samples for quality testing, results showed that the batches of the four Maiden Pharma brands had high levels of diethylene glycol (DEG) and ethylene glycol, both of which are deadly toxins that attack human kidney tissue," wrote Priyanka Pulla. Ethylene glycol is commonly used as anti-freeze and coolant in radiators of motor cars. wikipedia. Because it is sweet, it would be easy to poison babies with it. "Many importing countries require Indian manufacturers to provide a 'WHO-GMP' certificate, an assurance that the plant is following practices recommended by the WHO." GMP, which stands for Good Manufacturing Practices, specifies a set of guidelines for manufacturing medicines. WHO. "Maiden Pharma had such a certificate, according to CDSCO's (Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation) website." Wonder how much it cost. "The CDSCO and Haryana's Food and Drugs Administration (FDA), both of which were responsible for overseeing the quality of products sold in The Gambia, have so far shared very little information." That's the Indian way. In 2021, during the Delta wave of the coronavirus, when about 3.4 to 4.9 million people died, The Conversation, some patients developed high temperature and died when treated with Remdesivir "manufactured by Gujarat-based firm Zydus Cadilla". wrote Pulla. The Bihar regulator "found Cadilla's batch V100167 to contain bacterial endotoxins - compounds present in protective envelopes of bacteria, which cause fever, chills and life threatening septic shock in humans." Cadilla denied any responsibility and alleged that the saline used to dissolve their product was responsible. Life is cheap in India. In 2014, 13 women and two men died in Chhattisgarh when given Ciprofloxacin injection after surgery which was found to contain zinc sulphide, a rat poison. Seattle Times. A massacre of the innocents in The Gambia. GMP, with Indian characteristics.