Daily Independent (Lagos)
Yinka Shokunbi
26 November 2008
Lagos — Up to 25 children have died in Lagos, Ibadan and Zaria since September after being administered with a contaminated powder called 'My Pickin' Teething Mixture.
And several others in these cities and elsewhere have experienced kidney failure, according to the Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dora Akunyili.
She told journalists in Lagos on Tuesday that Barewa Pharmaceuticals allegedly manufactured the powder which laboratory analysis shows contains Diethylene glycol (DEG) used in unsaturated polyester resins (UPR), plasticisers, acrylate, and associated products.
Akunyili recounted how NAFDAC was informed about the incident "nearly two weeks after cases of deaths and complications had been reported in many hospitals across the country, and we have just traced the cause of the deaths to the administration of the teething mixture, 'My Pickin' by mothers.
"Precisely on November 19, 2008, NAFDAC was alerted through a telephone call from a Pharmacist in Ahmadu Bello University (ABUTH), Zaria on the death of some children which was suspected to be caused by a teething mixture 'My Pickin.'
"NAFDAC immediately commenced investigation. We visited ABUTH twice within a few hours the same day and it was confirmed.
"As at November 20, 2008, 11 cases were reported, out of which eight had died and three were still on admission and under dialysis at the hospital in Zaria."
Akunyili said mothers questioned on the source of the drug disclosed that they bought it from medicine stores.
The children had been taken to several hospitals and clinics in Kaduna, she added, and "it was only when their condition worsened that they came to the ABUTH Zaria either on referral or on their own."
Similar reports were later received simultaneously from the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan; Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idiaraba, Lagos; Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja, Lagos; and Gbagada General Hospital, Lagos.
Between October 30 and November 24, a total 25 deaths were reported; 15 from LUTH, eight from ABUTH, and two from UCH.
Several more children suffered from fever, diarrhea, and renal failure.
"The batch of 'My Pickin' most of the patients in Kaduna used is Batch 02008, manufactured in October 2008 and expiring November 2011.
"NAFDAC has since last week commenced mopping up all over the country while the local manufacturing facility of Barewa Pharmaceuticals Limited at 1-5 Olugbo Close, Shasha Road Akowonjo, Lagos has been closed down until further notice."
Akunyili implored mothers and care givers to report strange occurrences in drug reactions to NAFDAC.
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