More than a dozen parents are suing Indonesia's drug regulator and health ministry for allowing into the country medications linked to acute kidney injury that killed their children or damaged their organs, their lawyer told Reuters on Friday.
Nearly 200 children have died of acute kidney injury in Indonesia this year and authorities have said two ingredients, ethylene glycol and diethyelene glycol, found in some syrup-based paracetamol medications are linked to the illness.
The two ingredients are used in antifreeze, brake fluids and other industrial applications, but also as a cheaper alternative in some pharmaceutical products to glycerine, a solvent or thickening agent in many cough syrups. They can be toxic and can lead to acute kidney injury.
