New Delhi: The World Health Organisation (WHO) has issued a product alert against yet another Indian medicine. This time around, it has found contaminants diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol in a syrup made by an Indian manufacturer and marketed by another company.According to the alert issued on August 7, the UN health body has detected DEG and EG in Cold Out syrup (Paracetamol and chlorpheniramine maleate). It is used for cold and flu. The DEG and EG have been found to the tune of 0.25% and 2.1% respectively. Fouurts (India) Laboratories Pvt Limited, a Tamil Nadu-based company, has made the product while Dabilife Pharma Pvt Ltd India has marketed it. The product was exported to Iraq and samples were collected from a location in the country for laboratory analysis. Terming the presence of contaminants unacceptably high, the WHO said both DEG and EG are not permitted beyond 0.10%. DEG is an industrial solvent and is used as brake fluid. “The substandard batch of the product referenced in this Alert is unsafe and its use, especially in children, may result in serious injury or death. Toxic effects can include abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhoea, inability to pass urine, headache, altered mental state and acute kidney injury which may lead to death,” it said in the alert. The WHO said, “To date, the stated manufacturer and the marketer have not provided guarantees to WHO on the safety and quality of the product.” This alert comes in the backdrop of several other alerts issued against drugs made in India. Last year, the biggest scandal to hit the Indian pharma industry was the deaths of 70 children in Gambia. Despite four detailed reports besides lab reports of WHO, the Indian government has refused to accept this incident as that of DEG and EG poisoning. Recently, the WHO found DEG and EG in Naturcold syrup, which was exported to Cameroon. The manufacturer – Fraken International – was listed on the product carton as UK-based. However, the UK drug regulator confirmed to the WHO that there was no manufacturer by that name in the country. Later, the manufacturer was found to be India-based. The government issued a stop manufacturing order to it . Six children died in this posinning incident. In January this year, the deaths of seven children in Uzbekistan were linked to two drugs made in India, again due to the presence of DEG and EG in them. The Indian government also found the contamination in its own investigation.