By Anushka Rajvedi
As complications arise after the use of cough syrups, 12 children in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have rung alarm bells, leading the centre to issue an advisory on the prescribed process of cold and cough medicines to children below the age of 2 on October 3, 2025.
The Tamil Nadu government has banned the sale of cough syrup ‘Coldrif’ in the state and ordered its removal from the market amid concerns over the deaths of 11 children in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
According to an official of the Food Safety and Drug Administration Department, the cough syrup manufactured by the city-based firm, Coldrif Syrup, is now banned from sale across Tamil Nadu, effective from October 1.
Acknowledging the deaths of infants, the Union Health Ministry on Friday released an advisory to States and Union Territories stating that cough and cold medications should not be given to children younger than 2 years old.
The advisory, put out by the Directorate General of Health Services, comes as reports out of Madhya Pradesh said deaths of children were related to contaminated cough syrups, with similar reports in Rajasthan.
“The department had been instructed to prevent selling the syrup and freeze the stocks from October 1.”, said the food safety official. The Union government will also send samples collected from the facility for independent testing.
The Drug Department has directed the company to stop production of the syrup at the facility until the laboratory assay results are returned.
Inspections took place at the pharmaceutical company’s manufacturing facility in Sunguvarchathram in neighbouring Kancheepuram district over the last two days and samples have been taken, according to officials at the Food Safety and Drug Administration Department.
Senior Congress leader Kamal Nath has implicated mixing ‘brake oil solvent’ in cough syrups as the cause for the deaths of children with a suspected kidney ailment in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhindwara district since September 7.