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- WHO says India has much to do on toxic cough syrup despite some progress</p>
<p>By Jennifer RigbyOctober 21, 2025 at 6:30 AM</p>
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<p>Nilesh Suryavanshi, 32, the father of a 3 year old child who has been admitted at the Government Medical College, holds a bottle of Coldrif cough syrup, which has been linked to the deaths of 17 children, in Nagpur, India, October 8, 2025. REUTERS/Priyanshu Singh</p>
<p>By Jennifer Rigby</p>
<p>LONDON (Reuters) -India has more work to do in halting sales of toxic cough syrup, despite some progress, a World Health Organization official told Reuters, after at least 24 children died following consumption of a domestically-made medicine.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>But enforcement issues persist, the WHO said.</p>
<p>"They have made some strides," said the official, Rutendo Kuwana, referring to a new Indian rule requiring medicine to be tested for contaminants like diethylene and ethylene glycol before export.</p>
<p>However, no such rule exists for syrups sold locally – a "regulatory gap" the WHO has flagged.</p>
<p>"It's a work in progress," added Kuwana, the WHO team lead for incidents involving substandard and falsified medicines.</p>
<p>"There's a lot that needs to be done. It's a big market, with tens of thousands of manufacturers and many states to deal with."</p>
<p>Last week Reuters reported that India plans to scrap its export rule once companies upgrade their facilities to international standards by a year-end deadline.</p>
<p>India's health ministry and the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), the federal pharmaceuticals regulator, did not return requests for comment on the plans.</p>
<p>Representatives of Sresan Pharma did not respond to repeated telephone calls.</p>
<p>A WHO spokesperson said by email on Monday the agency welcomed all steps to improve medicine quality.</p>
<p>However, in response to a question about dropping the export tests, the spokesperson said medicines, including raw materials, should be tested throughout the production process, not just at the end.</p>
<p>By law, Indian drugmakers must test each batch of raw materials and the final product, but CDSCO said in October some firms had not been doing this.</p>
<p>Kuwana said countries including neighbouring Pakistan had attended WHO training on testing for the toxins, and a new, cheaper test had been developed.</p>
<p>Representatives from India did not attend but it has confirmed to the WHO that it is using the method, he added.</p>
<p>There has also been a lack of accountability for the previous incident, Kuwana said, which he described as a "big disappointment". Despite the deaths abroad, there is no record of anyone being jailed in India.</p>
<p>"This is not just selling fake shoes," said Kuwana. "This is a moral issue but if you don't follow the rules, it's criminal, because it has devastating consequences."</p>
<p>(Reporting by Jennifer Rigby; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)</p>
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