Death in a bottle: Toxic cough syrups once again prove fatal for children

Toxic cough syrups have once again proven fatal for children. This time, the tragedy has happened in India. Here's a look at why this sordid tale never seems to let up

It is a sunny Saturday morning in Northeast Delhi’s Dilshad Garden with a crowd of fifteen to twenty people thronging a pharmacy in the colony’s main market. Among the customers holding up prescriptions are the parents of a six-year old boy, their hands flailing. The boy is suffering from a bout of cough and cold. 

“Bhaiya, yeh syrup sahi toh hai na? (Is this syrup okay?)” asks the mother, to which the pharmacist answers in the affirmative. “A lot of parents have started to ask this question now,” Mahesh, who works at the pharmacy, said. 

Two weeks have passed since