Thread by @d_s_thakur

Propylene glycol is a food additive. It is also used as a drug solubilizer, an excipient. It carries flavors in food and beverages, helps retain taste. Diethylene glycol is a chemical used to make polymers and anti-freeze. 9 children died in J&K because it appears that a mfg 1/n

2/n mistook one for the other. This is a long thread, please bear with me.

The death of 9 children is printed on page 10 of a national newspaper. What does it say about us I wonder?

But I digress, if you read the piece carefully, you will see that the switch/contamination

3/n was detected by a lab at PGIMER. What was our drug regulatory system doing, should we ask? PGIMER’s results have NO legal standing, test results from RDTL do.

This thread is a plea to all health reporters @PrabhaRaghavan @Teensthack @AnooBhu @PriyankaPulla @ChandnaHimani

4/n @dawalelo @rdivia @RemaNagarajan @singh_jyotsna to investigate because my requests to @CDSCO_INDIA_INF & @MoHFW_INDIA dont seem to make any difference.

We owe it to those 9 innocent lives

5/n This company, Digital Vision appears to have a long and dodgy history of producing NSQ drugs. A simple Google search shows the following results:
(a) CDSCO failures: cdsco.gov.in/opencms/resour…

(b) indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/file/Nat… (page 318 - 50% of the samples failed);

6/n (c) Karnataka failures: pharmabiz.com/NewsDetails.as…
(d) Rajasthan failures: pharmabiz.com/NewsDetails.as…
(e) J&K recorded failures: dfcojk.org/images/NSQ%202…

(f) In addition the XLN database notes failures recorded by states of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Kerala:

7/n (f) Cover up in progress - The Tribune is rpting that the HP state drug controller claims that the company is now blaming the supplier of the intermediary ingredients: tribuneindia.com/news/himachal-…
Under the law - the company that markets the drug is required to test all batches.

8/n (g) Journalists covering the story must ask the CDSCO and HP how they exactly they are going to execute a nation-wide recall when there are no binding rules on recall - I have asked for binding rules to be made on this issue in my petition before the Delhi HC;

9/n (h) Those interested in #PublicHealth must demand to know of the action taken by the HP drug licensing authority in each and every one of the cases mentioned above - specifically were criminal complaints filed? Were the factory premises investigated? Were licenses suspended

10/n for each product? Where are the investigation reports for each of those instances? Who were the officers responsible for investigation?

Do we deserve answers to these questions?

I have documented in multiple cases where even after wrongdoing is conclusively established

11/n people who put lives in danger are let off with nothing more than a slap on the wrist. Health journalists owe it to those 9 kids who died to get to the bottom of this mess.

End of rant. 🙏 for reading.

One last thing, if the families of these innocent children want to make a serious example of this case, I am willing to do everything in my personal capacity to help. Enough is enough! 😡🤬

3.1/n

It is good that PGIMER tested this drug and we found out. What was the State Drug Controller in HP doing, should we ask? Given the history with this company, shouldnt the state drug controller be more vigilant in sampling? How many such cases exist, should we care?