Nigeria's food and drug agency says that 25 children aged between three months and four years have died after taking a contaminated teething syrup.

The National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control said it had shut down the Lagos-based manufacturer, Barewa Pharmaceuticals.

It said the syrup, called My Pikin, had been tainted with diethylene glycol.

The substance, used in engine coolant and anti-freeze, triggered kidney failure in the children, it said.

The children died at three hospitals in Lagos, Ibadan and Zaria.

At least 10 other children are reported to have been brought to hospital.

The NAFDAC said symptoms among the children who had taken the syrup included diarrhoea, vomiting, fever and convulsions, and that they had not been able to pass urine for several days.

The agency said it had first received reports of possible contamination on 19 November and had begun to confiscate the syrup two days later.

"NAFDAC officers nationwide have been directed to mop up all batches of the offending drug from circulation," the agency's head, Dora Akunyili, was quoted as saying.

She also appealed to mothers to stop using the medicine on their children.





http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7750464.stm

This is sad

Nigeria and adulterated/fake healthcare products!!!

Yes it is even more than sad. I don't know how far the authorities will go with this one so that it will put a final stop to all these bad news.

I am just worried that is it deliberate or was it a mistake?

And it is even more alarming that more babies are still being brought to the hospital so that means the death toll will be higher than this.

How many death will we record before we take the right step in this nation. We never pay attention to things until they become emergency. Chei!

It should be well investigated to ensure that the company is not a victim of people who specializes in adulterating genuine products. But once the company is found liable all the individuals involved should be severely punished in a way that will serve as a lesson to others. And the punishment should be made public.

ayobase:

why wont this happen?
how wont it happen?

when about 24M is a senator`s
allowance within a month
and what is being allocated to
the health sector is about 5M a yr.

so tell me,
Niger?

Why must people yan off topic? Is there any country where doctors are richer than senators? Or is it the doctors making the drugs!!! Guy stay on point abeg.

The Problem with the health sector is just too numerous

People Wanting to make profits at the expense of people lives, turning the sector to a profits making business, no proper laws and regulations to monitor the activities of the operators. there is no severe penalty for this kind of people who do this things.too much illiteracy in the sector of this economy. there should be a stakeholders conference in these sector so that they are going to iron out all these issues. The substandard Nigerian education sector has a blame in these also. From the roadside chemist who never stepped into the four walls of a health school before sets up a shop and sells any drugs he so wishes to the public. Business men employ unqualified personnel to make drugs and perform all sorts of magic to cut costs and make profits. onitsha drug markets is heaven to fake drugs and nothing can be done about that. i am just tired of these country ooooo. here abroad there are some drugs the pharmacist does not sell to you except there is a doctors prescription but in nigeria everything can come out of the drug shelf just pay the money. i don tire for that country oooooooooooo.

How sad it is to hear all this sort of News on daily basis in Nigeria!, What is this country turning into, ?

People giving up on other people at the expense of other people's life, its a pity that even NAFDAC isn't hygienic enough to take proper care of the health of solidarized Nigerian citizens,

GOD HELP US!!.

I saw this in the toronto star, very sad. when will we learn? Nothing comes ez

This is so sad

But how will i even see a drug called "my pikin" and buy it.

May God  console the families of those children who fell victims to this error on the part of the manufacturer.This is why organizations dealing in health products especially ones for the tender little ones should have a strong quality control unit that is operative 24 hours.Though humans are subject to errors but when dealing with a populace organizations should have eagle eyes on what they are churning out.
plasticine is no longer luxury in nigeria as both poor and rich kids can have it to play with courtesy www. decortglobalventures. 8m. com or call tunde on 08163552133. with plasticine your kids do not need to play with the natural clay as it is messy and can soil clothes. plasticine is reusable many times,also remouldable. you can use it to mould different things,then reshape it  another time to mould another thing. unlike clay it can be played with in the sitting room ,where if you use clay the whole place goes messy.

People, nay, kids died and all you could think of is selling plasticine? Are you an Ibo man?

Hmmmm, This story baffled me, Sad story, I just pray that God protect Our family members and stop this roblems our country is facing

decort:

May God console the families of those children who fell victims to this error on the part of the manufacturer.This is why organizations dealing in health products especially ones for the tender little ones should have a strong quality control unit that is operative 24 hours.Though humans are subject to errors but when dealing with a populace organizations should have eagle eyes on what they are churning out.
plasticine is no longer luxury in nigeria as both poor and rich kids can have it to play with courtesy www. decortglobalventures. 8m. com or call niyi on 08075138697. with plasticine your kids do not need to play with the natural clay as it is messy and can soil clothes. plasticine is reusable many times,also remouldable. you can use it to mould different things,then reshape it another time to mould another thing. unlike clay it can be played with in the sitting room ,where if you use clay the whole place goes messy.

I fear you oo,person pikin die,you come here dey sell Plasticine or whateva, u be robot or u be human being? no sympathy at all, this is not the best way and best time to make any transaction, sefini

too bad

The firm involved should be sued and made to pay atleast 100m to each family whose child died from mypikin, if it was USA lawyers would be scrambling to render free services to such family. Where are the Keyamos, the Ganis and the Falanas?

money the root of all evil,

my pikin na die!

O shit!

Now this is just sad.
I wonder if the phamacitical company involved did that deliberatly,
Or were they just ignorant of the effect of the said ingredient,
or are they a victim of adulterated drugs by pirates.

Any which ways sha, it is a real shame.

na only God go punish 'em,Amen.

It’s a pity!!

But that much is obvious from the name! It would’ve given me the shivers

Barewa?

Na wa ooh. This is really disheartening .

i hear say 29 pikins die from taking one melecine called My Pikin

delegiwa you are either a retard or just plain ignorant.
What's with the generalization about igbo men?
If you were intelligent enough to click on decort's name, you will have an idea of where he/she comes from.

fuckn country

~Heart-wrenching!! RIP Little Angels!

Okenku1:

delegiwa you are either a retard or just plain ignorant.
What's with the generalization about igbo men?
If you were intelligent enough to click on decort's name, you will have an idea of where he/she comes from.

Is that all you've got? If it's all, then let's move on and grieve for the senseless death of more than 20 innocent souls who were neither retards nor ignorant.

Nigerians are one set of heartless humans we have on earth. If you question them, they'll tel u dat the harse economic condition inthe country forced

them into it. Now the question is 'must you claim human lives for you to survive the harsh econ. situation?'

I think it barrows down to having the fear of God. One who has the fear of God would not want to go as far as killing promising babies to make it in life.

Nigeria is even the worse economy in the world. Lets ponder on these Nigerianns.