Dental medicine kills 84 kids in Nigeria

Lagos, February 7: The health ministry declared as many as 84 children died in Nigeria in the last three months after the mengonsumsi medication for dental treatment.

The children aged between two months and seven years died after taking a medicine called "My Pikin" a formula to stop teething pain. Health officials said that a batch of the medicine that went on sale in November contained diethylene glycol, an industrial solvent and an ingredient in antifreeze and brake fluid.

Babatunde Osotimehin, Nigeria's minister of health declared, "The poison has caused many deaths in children between the ages of 2 months and 7 years old in Nigeria. The death of any Nigerian child is a great loss to the nation."

The chemical looks, smells and tastes like sweet glycerin used in a wide range of medicines, foods and toothpaste. However counterfeiters substituted it with cheap diethylene glycol to enhance their profits.

The paracetemol-based formula can cause kidney and liver damage, attack the central nervous system, leading to paralysis with fatal consequences. The afflicted children were stricken with fever and vomiting. Some stopped urinating, and many had diarrhea. Children with these deadly symptoms turned up at hospitals, across the country amid rising anger and panic.

Health authorities have withdrawn the drug from circulation and have advised parents not to administer it to their children. Investigators at Nigeria's National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control have traced the chemical.

The deadly agent entered the production process when a Lagos based maker procured the tainted ingredient from an unregistered chemical dealer in a slum near the city’s main dump. Many officials of the maker Barewa Pharmaceutical Ltd are under arrest.

Nigeria is a vast of 140 million people where bottles of the teething formula could easily go undiscovered by authorities. Besides the country has a history of poor enforcement of rules and regulations, with corruption rampant among police and government officials.