At least five African kontries don recall batches of Johnson & Johnson cough syrup afta tests show one unacceptable high level of di toxic and substance diethylene glycol wey fit cause death.

Kenya drug regulator bin announce last week say dem dey remove one batch, wey dey under di Benylin Paediatric brand, from circulation.

Dis one follow similar announcement from Nigeria drug regulator, di National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (Nafdac).

South Africa also tok say dem dey recall two batches of di syrup, while Rwanda and Tanzania dey recall one batch.

Kenya Pharmacy and Poisons Board (PPB) tok say di batch wey dem recall na by Johnson & Johnson for South Africa for May 2021, wit expiry date of April 2024.

PPB also tok for statement say dem don begin investigate di incident.

Dem also tell BBC say dem dey sama one public alert across di kontri and advise pipo to return di products to dia nearest suppliers.

Di regulator don also instruct healthcare facilities say make dem immediately quarantine di product and stop im distribution and sale.

Karim Wanga, head of post marketing surveillance for PPB tok say di regulator don direct di local agent wey dey import di product for Kenya to “quarantine” oda batches wey dem recently import for testing, including those wey no directly dey impacted by di alert, to determine di extent of contamination.

Laboratory analysis dey currently go on, and di agency dey wait di results to decide if further action dey necessary.

Kenvue, wey now be di owner of di Benylin brand afta dem split from Johnson & Johnson last year, bin tell BBC say di “health and safety” of pipo wey use dia products na “top priority” and say dem dey take di matter “very seriously”.

Di company also tok for statement say dem dey work wit Nigeria drug regulator, Nafdac, to carry out assessments including to “verify authenticity of di sampled product, testing methodology dem use and results wey di agency report”.

Why di batch dem recall dey so dangerous?

According to Nafdac, diethylene glycol fit cause serious health wahala, including abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhoea, and acute kidney injury.

Since 2022, Diethylene glycol don dey linked to di deaths of dozens of pikins dem for Gambia, Uzbekistan and Cameroon for one of di world worst waves of poisoning from oral medication.

Following di reported deaths for Cameroon and Gambia, dem don issue one global alert over four cough syrups wey di Indian company, Maiden Pharmaceuticals dey make.

Di World Health Organization (WHO) bin link di syrups to di deaths of 66 children and tok say dem find “unacceptable” levels of toxins for di medicines.

"We get evidence - we bin test dis drugs,” Amadou Camara, chairperson of Gambian parliamentary panel wey bin investigate di deaths tok.

“Dem contain unacceptable amounts of ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol, and dis dey directly imported from India, manufactured by Maiden.”

Denials

Maiden Pharmaceuticals and di Indian goment don deny any connect between di cough syrups and di deaths of pikin dem.

For December 2023, India bin tok say di syrups bin obey quality standards wen dem test am domestically. Di kontri don also announce steps to make am compulsory for companies to make sure say cough syrup samples dey tested for goment-approved laboratories bifor dem export dem.

Since July 2023, Di Gambia don also enforce dis requirement for medicines wey dey exported from India.

India export medicines wey worth $25.4bn (£20bn) for di financial year ending for March 2023. Out of dis, $3.6bn dey exported to kontries for Africa.