The World Health Organization is likely to issue a wider warning about contaminated Johnson and Johnson-made JNJ.N children\u2019s cough syrup found in Nigeria last week, it said in an email.
\nNigeria\u2019s regulator recalled a batch of Benylin syrup last Wednesday, having found a high level of diethylene glycol in the product during routine testing.
\nThe contaminant, alongside another closely related toxin, has been linked to the deaths of more than 300 children in Gambia, Uzbekistan, Indonesia and Cameroon since 2022, though there is no evidence that these incidents are linked with the new recalls.
\nThe U.N. health body said it puts out global medical product alerts to \u201cencourage diligence\u201d by national authorities and was likely to do so in this instance, \u201csubject to confirmation of certain details from parties\u201d.
\nThe batch of Benylin syrup recalled was made by J&J in South Africa in May 2021, although Kenvue KVUE.N now owns the brand after a spin-off from J&J last year.
\nJ&J has referred requests for comment to Kenvue. Kenvue was not immediately available for comment, but said this week it was conducting its own assessment and working with health authorities to determine a course of action.
\nSince Nigeria\u2019s recall, five other African countries have also pulled the product from shelves \u2013 Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and South Africa, where the drug was made.
\nSouth Africa\u2019s regulator has also recalled another batch of the syrup, which is used to treat coughs, hay fever and other allergic reactions in children.
\nDiethylene glycol is toxic to humans when consumed and can result in acute kidney failure, although there have been no reports of harm in the latest incident.
\nIn the 2022 cases, the contamination in the syrups came from the raw materials used by manufacturers in India and Indonesia.
\nThe WHO said it was collaborating with both the manufacturer and regulatory authority in South Africa to investigate this for the Benylin paediatric syrup, and had information on the source of the raw ingredients used. It did not disclose the source.
\nAccording to WHO, Kenvue said it tested the raw ingredients used in the syrup before manufacture, and \u201cno issues of concern were noted\u201d.
\nThe agency said the possibility that the syrup was counterfeit was also \u201cunder consideration as part of investigations\u201d.
\n(Reuters)contaminated syrup. contaminated cough syrup, diethylene glycol, global medical product alerts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The World Health Organization is likely to issue a wider warning about contaminated Johnson and Johnson-made children\u2019s cough syrup found in Nigeria last week. Nigeria\u2019s regulator recalled a batch of Benylin syrup due to high levels of diethylene glycol. The contaminant has been linked to the deaths of more than 300 children in other countries since 2022, though not linked to the new recalls. Five other African countries have also pulled the product from shelves. The WHO is collaborating with the manufacturer and regulatory authority in South Africa to investigate the source of the contamination.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":8911,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[589,5292,279,7173,1030,3502,7174,1610,7175,210,487,937,396,1342,2796,6302,104,6471,317,5129,6305,18],"class_list":["post-8910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other","tag-africa","tag-children","tag-comment","tag-contaminated-cough-syrup","tag-counterfeit","tag-deaths","tag-diethylene-glycol","tag-evidence","tag-global-medical-product-alerts","tag-health","tag-incidents","tag-india","tag-indonesia","tag-investigations","tag-issues","tag-nigeria","tag-paediatric","tag-rwanda","tag-south-africa","tag-warning","tag-who","tag-world"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n