LUCKNOW, Oct. 6 -- Drug inspectors across Uttar Pradesh were on Sunday directed to stop dispensation and collect samples of cough syrup of a particular pharmaceutical company linked to the recent deaths of children in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Assistant commissioner (drug), Food Safety and Drug Administration (FSDA), in a letter directed all drug inspectors to visit all drug stores, private, government hospitals and dispensaries and if there is stock of the said cough syrup, linked to death of children, samples must be taken and its dispensation be stopped. "The samples have to be tested at the state lab in Lucknow at the earliest for the level of diethylene glycol (DEG)," said the letter to all drug inspectors. The drug inspectors are also expected to visit drug manufacturing units and take samples of cough syrup if being manufactured there and get samples checked for diethylene glycol (DEG). Twelve children died in India from cough syrups containing toxic levels of diethylene glycol, highlighting serious drug regulation failures. In the case of the Madhya Pradesh deaths, the cough syrup was found to contain 48% diethylene glycol (DEG), which is 480 times the permissible limit of 0.1%. The drug inspectors have been directed to fill sampling details in a google sheet that is being monitored at headquarters and ensure they do not repeat sample of one particular batch and instead take sample of every batch of that cough syrup. This is not the first such instance at home or abroad. In 2023, the WHO issued alerts on Indian cough syrups after the deaths of children in Gambia and Uzbekistan....