Who Is Behind Deadly Cough Syrup?
It started in rural Madhya Pradesh. A few children with ordinary cold symptoms like cough, fever, mild discomfort, were given a locally prescribed cough syrup. Within days, instead of recovering, they developed dark urine, lethargy, and signs of kidney failure. One by one, the tragedy spread. Before long, authorities were linking the deaths to a contaminated medicinal syrup called Coldrif. What makes this scandal especially haunting is that the cough remedy, something parents trusted, became the suspect. As state after state banned the product, lab results trickled in, revealing dangerously high levels of diethylene glycol (DEG), a toxic industrial solvent, within the syrup.
