The Food and Drug Administration has partnered with the World Health Organization to investigate the source of contaminated cough syrups that have killed more than 300 children.
- The medication, which were sold in several countries around the world, were found to be tainted with diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol, both of which are toxic to humans, according to a WHO report. Most of the underage victims -- who lived in Asia or Africa -- died of "acute kidney injury," health investigators say.
- Although the contaminated syrups weren't sold in the United States, the FDA has joined the investigation to make sure the toxic contaminants don't make their way into American medications, the agency says. "Although the FDA currently has no indication that the products described in the 2022 and 2023 WHO alerts have entered the U.S. drug supply chain, the agency is investigating the potential impact and scope of this hazard on FDA-regulated products," reads a statement released Thursday by the FDA.