Cough syrup death legal move
BANJUL: Gambia has hired a United States law firm to explore legal action after a governmentbacked investigation found that contaminated medicines from India were ‘‘very likely’’ to have caused the deaths of children last year, the justice minister said.
At least 70 children in Gambia, most aged under 5, died from acute kidney injury between June and October.
Local doctors suspected cough syrups imported from India were the likely culprit, Reuters reported earlier this year, and tests by the World Health Organisation (WHO) confirmed the presence of lethal toxins, sparking a global hunt for contaminated medicines.
Gambian Justice
Minister
Dawda Jallow said legal action was one option under consideration by the government, the first sign of potential international litigation over the deaths.
Jallow did not say who would be the target of potential legal proceedings or name the law firm hired to help.
The medicines linked to the children’s deaths were made by Indian drug maker Maiden Pharmaceuticals, which denied wrongdoing.
Tests by the WHO found that the Maiden cough syrups contained the lethal toxins diethylene glycol (DEG) and ethylene glycol (EG), used in car brake fluid. India’s government has said its own tests on the drugs found no toxins.
Indian officials have said the
WHO failed to prove a causal link to the Gambia deaths, accusing the agency of denigrating its $US41 billion ($NZ67 billion) pharmaceutical industry. However, cough syrups made by a second Indian drugmaker have been linked to the deaths of 19 children in Uzbekistan.
India has since made drug testing mandatory for cough syrups before export.
Gambia’s justice ministry is considering its options after completion of a new governmentcommissioned causality assessment by a panel of international experts, Jallow said.
The WHO has said it has been frustrated by a lack of information regarding Maiden’s drugs. — Reuters
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