NEW DELHI – In Parasia’s quiet mining lanes, grief sits heavy. What looked like routine visits for stubborn coughs has turned into a national crisis. At least 14 children under five have died after taking Coldrif Cough Syrup, an over-the-counter cough medicine found to contain toxic diethylene glycol, or DEG. The deaths have triggered outrage, fresh questions over drug safety, and a police investigation for manslaughter.

The cluster of cases emerged over the past month across Chhindwara district, where 13 children died, with one more death in neighbouring Betul. Many of the children had typical dry coughs linked to seasonal infections, allergies, or postnasal drip. Local clinicians prescribed Coldrif, a dry cough suppressant often used for children.

Dry cough syrups, which may include dextromethorphan, quiet the cough reflex and are different from wet cough mixtures. Expectorants, which often contain guaifenesin, help clear mucus when there is chest congestion. Those distinctions are meant to guide safe use in infants and toddlers, yet here the remedy became the cause of tragedy.

Parents describe the same pattern. A mild cough, followed by the syrup, then a sharp decline. Mohammed Amin Khan, a 32-year-old miner, says his five-year-old son Adnan came home with a dry cough after school. A doctor prescribed Coldrif, two teaspoons a day, and reassured him it was a simple cold.

Within two days, Adnan began vomiting, stopped passing urine, and showed signs of acute kidney failure. He was rushed to Nagpur, 150 kilometres away, where he died on 28 September. Khan clutched a worn photo of his son and said they trusted a bottle labelled for children, and never imagined it could be lethal.

Children Hospitalized Over Cough Syrup

The toll across Parasia’s sub-division is stark. Eleven children died in Parasia, two more in Chhindwara city, and another in Chaurai tehsil. In Rajasthan, three deaths in Sikar and Bharatpur are under review for links to the same product, reportedly supplied through the state’s free medicine scheme.

At least 16 other children remain in hospital, some on dialysis in Nagpur’s stretched facilities. Families keep vigil outside the local health centre, holding placards that read, Justice for Our Angels, and Ban the Poison Peddlers.

Lab tests delivered the confirmation everyone feared. Samples of Coldrif Syrup, batch SR-13, manufactured in May 2025 by Sresan Pharmaceutical in Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu, contained 48.6% DEG. The World Health Organization sets the safe limit at 0.1%. DEG is a sweet-tasting industrial solvent used in antifreeze, brake fluid, and paint.

It is sometimes used as a cheap substitute for pharmaceutical-grade propylene glycol, a safe solvent that gives syrups their consistency. Inside the body, DEG breaks down into toxic compounds that attack the kidneys. It causes severe abdominal pain, seizures, and rapid organ failure, particularly in young children.

Tamil Nadu’s Drugs Control Department halted production and issued a public alert on 3 October after its Government Drugs Testing Laboratory detected the contamination. Tests in Madhya Pradesh confirmed the result at 46.28% DEG.

This disaster sits in a long, painful line. The 2025 case recalls the 2019 Jammu and Kashmir incident, where 12 children died from DEG-tainted cough syrups, and the 2022 Gambia tragedy that killed more than 70 children using Indian-made products.

Since 2022, DEG and ethylene glycol have been linked to at least 141 child deaths in Gambia, Uzbekistan, and Cameroon. India’s reputation as the pharmacy of the world has taken repeated hits. Exported syrups now face compulsory DEG testing, yet many domestic products do not, revealing a stark gap in oversight.

Public Anger Mounts

Public anger has now become action. On 5 October, Madhya Pradesh Police arrested Dr Praveen Soni of Chhindwara, who had prescribed Coldrif to many of the victims. He has been charged with negligence under Section 105 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, culpable homicide not amounting to murder, and Section 276 for drug adulteration.

An FIR also names Sresan Pharmaceutical and its officials, who face potential life sentences under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act. Superintendent of Police Ajay Pandey has called it a clear case of manslaughter. A 12-member Special Investigation Team, led by Parasia SDPO Jitendra Singh Jat, is heading to Tamil Nadu to search the plant and secure records.

Three drug inspectors and a deputy director in Madhya Pradesh’s Food and Drug Administration have been suspended, and the state drug controller has been transferred over claims of weak enforcement.

Facing mounting pressure, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav met grieving families on 6 October. He announced ₹5 lakh compensation per child, a statewide ban on Coldrif and related Sresan products, and promised strict action. Tamil Nadu and Kerala also announced bans, and Telangana issued alerts.

The Union Health Ministry called an emergency meeting and ordered risk-based inspections at 19 drug units in six states, including makers of syrups and antibiotics. New guidance urges careful use of cough syrups in children. None for under-twos, and caution for those under five.

India’s Drug Licensing System

Doctors are being reminded that most coughs clear on their own. Hydration, honey for older children, and steam inhalation are often enough, said Dr Rajiv Bahl, Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research.

On the streets of Parasia, tension is palpable. Protesters gathered outside Dr Soni’s clinic, threw stones, and chanted slogans. The local Indian Medical Association unit condemned the arrest, threatened to strike, and said doctors prescribe based on what is available.

They argue the blame lies with the manufacturer and the supply chain. Bereaved families reject that argument and say their children were failed at every step. Hashtags like #JusticeForChhindwaraKids trend across social media, with loud calls for an overhaul of India’s drug licensing system.

Experts point to money-saving shortcuts and weak supply checks. Industrial-grade solvents can be 30 to 50% cheaper than pharmaceutical-grade, and they slip into production when testing is lax. A Reuters investigation in 2023 reported that nine out of ten inspected Indian factories breached quality rules.

Public health analyst Dr Meera Sharma calls it systemic negligence. India produces a fifth of the world’s generic medicines, yet domestic regulation trails behind export controls by years.

Behind the policy meetings and legal documents, the loss is intimate and raw. In Parasia’s dim courtyards, families light candles, share food with neighbours, and hang on to memories. Adnan’s father kneels by a small shrine in their one-room home, whispering a prayer for every child still fighting in the hospital.

Empty syrup bottles sit on windowsills and bedside tables, a stark reminder of trust broken. The investigation may reshape an industry worth 50 billion dollars, and it may expose long-ignored cracks in the system. For those who have buried their children, change cannot come soon enough.

The coming weeks will test the will of regulators, state governments, and drug makers. Police are set to interrogate company officials, seize raw material logs, and track solvent suppliers. Health teams will audit pharmacies and clinics for the stock of the recalled batch.

Hospitals in Nagpur and Chhindwara brace for more cases, as doctors watch kidney function markers and adjust dialysis schedules.

In Rajasthan, officials review purchasing under the free medicine scheme and are tracing Coldrif consignments across Sikar and Bharatpur. Civil society groups urge a national registry for pediatric adverse drug events and random testing of all pediatric syrups sold in India.

Pharmacists are advising parents to hold any bottle of Coldrif Cough Syrup, batch SR-13, and to inform authorities immediately. Hotlines have been set up in Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu for reports of suspected cases.

There are hard lessons in every corner of this story. Substituting industrial solvents for pharmaceutical-grade ones kills. Checks that work for exports but not for home markets put Indian children at risk. Doctors need reliable supply chains, clear guidance, and accountability that does not scapegoat them alone.

Families need transparency and swift recalls when risks emerge. Regulators need testing capacity and real-time data across states. Manufacturers need to know that cutting corners will cost them their licences, their freedom, and their reputation.

For now, Parasia waits. Sirens still echo on the highway to Nagpur. Doorways hold pairs of tiny shoes that will never be worn again. The state promises justice, the centre promises reform, and the police promise arrests. The bottles remain, lined up like small headstones, a bitter symbol of how medicine meant to heal turned into poison.

PARIS – France entered another period of shock and fatigue as Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu resigned after only 26 days in office, the shortest stint of the Fifth Republic. His exit, announced hours after he presented a new cabinet, pushed Emmanuel Macron’s government into fresh turmoil.

It capped a year of stalemate that has stalled policy and worsened the country’s growing financial strain. With pressure mounting from both far left and far right, Marine Le Pen moved to rally support, casting the National Rally (RN) as the only path to stability.

Lecornu’s fall followed fierce rows over his ministerial choices and a parliament locked in stalemate. He took office in late September, replacing François Bayrou after a failed attempt to pass a divisive budget. A close Macron ally and former defence minister, Lecornu, promised a clean break.

He vowed not to use Article 49.3, the tool that forces laws through without a vote, and tried to build cross-party deals. His cabinet list on Sunday night backfired at once. The return of centrist figures, including the reappointment of Bruno Le Maire as defence minister, was condemned by both allies and opponents who saw no real change.

By Monday, the coalition had fallen apart. Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, a centre-right Republican, said the picks lacked ambition. France Unbowed and the Socialists dismissed the cabinet as Macronism recycled. Lecornu said the conditions were not in place to do the job, citing party infighting and a hung parliament.

Possible Elections for France

Macron then asked the outgoing premier to lead talks until Wednesday evening to shape a platform for stability. If that fails, the president may name yet another prime minister, dissolve the National Assembly for snap elections, or, in the most extreme case, step down.

This was the third prime minister to go since December 2024, a direct result of Macron’s snap elections last summer. The vote split the chamber into three near-equal blocs: his centrist allies, a left alliance led by LFI, and Le Pen’s RN. The hung parliament has made governing near impossible, with repeated no-confidence votes over budgets and reforms.

RN president Jordan Bardella said Macronism was finished and pushed for dissolution or impeachment. Jean-Luc Mélenchon backed impeachment, while the Socialists pressed for a left-leaning prime minister.

The political deadlock sits on top of a hardening financial crunch. France’s public debt stands at €3.35 trillion, or 116% of GDP, lifted by post-pandemic support and energy aid after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Annual interest costs have climbed to €66 billion, more than the education or defence budgets. The 2024 deficit reached 5.8% of GDP, €168.6 billion.

Investors have taken fright at the churn in government. The 10-year yield has risen to 3.5%, higher than Greece and Spain, a sign of weakening confidence. The CAC 40 fell more than 2% after Lecornu’s shock exit. Moody’s cut France to Aa3 last December, citing debt risks.

The European Commission now sees 0.6% growth in 2025, with unemployment at 7.9% as cuts bite and uncertainty chills investment. Finance Minister Eric Lombard has even floated the idea of IMF support if the impasse continues.

The Rise of Marine Le Pen

Reuters warned that France is drifting into a mix of weak growth and higher borrowing costs. Planned fixes, €44 billion in cuts, tax rises, and talk of scrapping public holidays, have sparked strikes and protests under the Block Everything banner. Critics say Macron’s refusal to pick a clearly left or right prime minister locks in the gridlock, trapping the country in a loop of rising yields and widening deficits.

Marine Le Pen has gained from the chaos, despite legal trouble. She was convicted in March of misusing almost €5 million in EU funds and faces a five-year ban from public office.

That would keep her out of the 2027 race unless her appeal succeeds. She calls the judgment a political hit and says she will fight on. On Monday, she demanded snap polls, accused Macron of choosing the cabinet that sank Lecornu, and said RN can deliver order.

Polling puts RN near 30%, fuelled by anger over immigration, cost pressures, and mistrust of elites. Le Pen claims the tide is turning, and the numbers back her as Macron’s ratings sit below 30%. Analysts say the ban could even strengthen her movement, feeding RN’s anti-establishment brand. Paul Taylor of the European Policy Centre said she is the only clear winner, as the far right eyes another collapse to force Macron’s hand.

For many citizens, the spectacle borders on farce. Pensioners in Marseille worry about unpaid bills as subsidies come under threat. Factory workers in Lyon strike over jobs. One protester asked how many prime ministers it would take to pass a budget.

With Wednesday’s deadline close, Macron’s options are shrinking, and Le Pen’s influence is growing. France, once a steady anchor in Europe, now teeters on the edge, its future resting on whether compromise can beat chaos or whether the far right’s rise will reshape the republic.

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PHOENIX, Arizona – Dr Jordan Peterson, the Canadian psychologist and bestselling author, spent close to a month in intensive care this summer with pneumonia and sepsis. His condition became critical, and according to his family, he came frighteningly close to death.

The 62-year-old scholar, known for his lectures and books, was said to be in grave condition in a video posted by his daughter, Mikhaila Peterson, which has drawn hundreds of thousands of views.

“This summer has been extremely hard,” Mikhaila, 32, said in the 13-minute video, fighting back tears as she described a “terrifying” period for the family. She said her father has a pre-existing immune disorder and reacted badly to most medications, which sharply reduced treatment options and made everything more dangerous.

He was admitted in August after a run of neurological problems, including neuropathy and weakness. Doctors suspect chronic inflammatory response syndrome, likely linked to long-term mould exposure that worsened when he cleared his late father’s basement earlier this year.

Taken to the hospital by ambulance, he faced a severe decline in the ICU and was described by Mikhaila as being “near death.” She called the ordeal “heartbreaking and brutal.” He has since been moved to a general ward and is “hopefully recovering,” with small gains each day.

The family faced another crisis at the same time. On the day Peterson was rushed to the emergency room, Mikhaila’s newborn daughter, Audrey, was also taken to the hospital by ambulance with a recurrence of pulmonary hypertension and heart failure.

The timing deepened the strain. “I miss my dad. My brother misses his dad. My mum misses her best friend and husband,” Mikhaila said, asking for prayers and saying the family felt under a kind of spiritual pressure.

Support has poured in from around the world. Dr. Jordan Peterson has spoken openly about past health problems, including a serious benzodiazepine withdrawal in 2020 that involved treatment in Russia and Serbia, where he was placed in a medically induced coma while being treated for pneumonia.

His brush with death comes while his influence remains strong, even as he steps back from public life to focus on healing. In August, the family announced he would take “time off of everything.” Followers are waiting for updates on his return to platforms such as his Daily Wire podcast, Answer the Call, which he co-hosts with Mikhaila.

 Dr Jordan Peterson, Campus Professor to Global Icon

Dr. Jordan Peterson rose from a University of Toronto academic to international prominence in 2016 after opposing Canada’s Bill C-16, which added gender identity and expression to human rights law. He argued that compelled speech, including mandated use of preferred pronouns, threatened free expression.

Videos of heated campus scenes and his measured responses drew millions of views. What started as one professor challenging what he saw as hasty rules turned into a cultural flashpoint.

By 2018, Kelefa Sanneh in The New Yorker called him “one of the most influential, and polarising, public intellectuals in the English-speaking world.” His book 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos topped bestseller lists, mixing Jungian ideas, biblical themes, evolutionary biology, and criticism of postmodernism into advice centred on responsibility.

Talks about status hierarchies in animals, victimhood, and identity politics resonated with many young men feeling lost in a time of shifting norms. Interest in his name surged after 2016.

By the late 2010s, he was filling large venues, gaining more than 8 million YouTube subscribers, and weighing in on topics from climate debates to the rise of political figures like Donald Trump. He linked some of this to cultural pressure on men, warning that it could fuel backlash.

He calls himself a classical liberal and a traditionalist. Drawing on fields such as anthropology and religious studies, he argues that ideas like a monolithic patriarchy are “treacherous illusions” not supported by evidence.

His blunt message, clean your room, stand up straight, seek meaning over pleasure, turned him into an unexpected mentor for the disaffected.

Controversy, Critics, and Never-Ending Fight

Dr. Jordan Peterson’s rise has been marked by constant controversy, with fierce opposition from the far left, who accuse him of enforcing conformity while hiding behind concerns about “political correctness.”

Some progressive critics label him a path to the alt-right, citing internet memes and interviews with figures such as Tommy Robinson, claims he rejects as exaggerated. In a widely viewed 2018 Channel 4 exchange with Cathy Newman, he defended his view on the gender pay gap, saying personality and other factors, not only discrimination, help explain differences. The interview split opinion and went viral.

Campus conflicts fed the storm. At one point, he was likened to Hitler by university figures for arguing over pronouns, a comparison he later turned to his advantage. Outlets such as The Guardian have called his claims filled with “pseudo-facts,” saying he shifts blame onto identity politics while downplaying racial provocation on the right.

Vox has framed him as a right-wing celebrity whose calm tone masks a backlash against transgender rights. The Atlantic has argued that the left’s anger springs from fear that his critique exposes weaknesses inside liberal thought.

He has faced efforts to remove him from academic life and a torrent of personal attacks, which he says pushed him further toward open contrarianism. Online observers note a pattern in which public targets are hounded, then pushed into the centre of culture wars.

He insists he pulls more people toward the middle than the fringes, rejects bigotry, and condemns what he calls the left’s “grotesquerie.”

As Jordan Peterson recovers, his story, shaped by intellectual success, fierce debate, and new frailty, returns the focus to the person behind the public image. Fans continue to send prayers, and critics keep watch. As Mikhaila said, the family is holding on to hope.

Whether this ordeal softens or sharpens his future work is unknown, but one thing seems certain. When he speaks again, Jordan Peterson will still provoke, inspire, and divide.

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