Tainted Medicines Prompt Investigation
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Police plan to investigate workers at a government laboratory in Panama after 21 people died from taking cough and allergy syrups tainted with a chemical used in brake fluid, a senior official said.
The deaths of mostly elderly men, who suffered kidney failure, puzzled medical authorities in the last month until U.S. experts traced the cause this week to generic sugar-free cough syrups made by Panama’s social security system.
The medicines were adulterated with diethylene glycol. The Health Ministry has ruled out human error, saying that malicious intent was likely.
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