Kenya has become the second African country, after Nigeria, to recall Johnson & Johnson’s children’s cough syrup following claims of an unacceptably high level of a potentially fatal toxic substance. Kenya’s Pharmacy and Poisons Board (PPB) announced on Thursday, a day after Nigeria’s health regulator recalled the same batch of medication under the Benylin Paediatric brand. According to Nigeria’s National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), laboratory tests on the cough syrup – Benylin Paediatric showed a high level of diethylene glycol, which has been linked to the deaths of dozens of children in Gambia, Uzbekistan and Cameroon since 2022 in one of the world’s worst waves of poisoning from oral medication. The batch being recalled was made in South Africa in May 2021 with an expiration date of April 2024. The regulator urged those with bottles from the batch to discontinue use or sale and submit them to its nearest office.
SOURCE: BUSINESS INSIDER | REUTERS