China Chided for Medicine Fatal to Haitian Children id SAA05660; Wed, 8 Oct 1997 18:35:26 -0400 Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit source:David E. Volk Published Thursday, October 2, 1997, in the Miami Herald China chided in probe of cough syrup Medicine killed 80 Haitian kids BEIJING -- (AP) -- U.S. authorities have accused China of not cooperating sufficiently with an investigation into tainted cough syrup that killed at least 80 children in Haiti. The over-the-counter syrup contained glycerin contaminated with diethylene glycol, a poisonous chemical. The medicine, sold between December 1995 and June 1996, caused brain damage, kidney failure and swollen abdomens in dozens of other Haitian children, many of whom were treated at hospitals in Florida. China has given U.S. officials the phone number of the Chinese producer of the glycerin, which they say was 98 percent pure when it was exported, Yu Shuning, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, said Tuesday. But Don McLearn, a spokesman for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which is investigating the poisonings, said China has not provided sufficient information. ``Just giving someone a phone number is not the way we do epidemiological investigation. It's a step-by-step scientific analysis. The bottom line is that the Chinese have not provided enough information,'' he said. The glycerin was exported by a state-owned Chinese company, Sinochem, to a Dutch firm in 1994. Yu said the glycerin was 98 percent pure -- meeting U.S. standards -- when it was shipped, and suggested the contamination occurred later. ``The Chinese cannot be held responsible for this later processing after the product was sold to the Dutch company,'' he said. A product liability lawsuit filed in Miami on behalf of 45 of the children charges that Vos B.V., of the Netherlands and subsidiary Helm A.G. of Germany were negligent for shipping the tainted glycerin to the Haitian company that produced the cough syrup. CBS reported Sunday on 60 Minutes that in previous poisonings, diethylene glycol was found to have been substituted for glycerin in medicine because it cost about half as much. Copyright (c) 1997 The Miami Herald ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytas-10.08.97-18:35:45-26788