All records 'lost' from drug office

All documents relating to the country's first ever detection of paracetamol syrup adulteration in 1992 have vanished from the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA), the public institution responsible for checking drug adulteration and prosecuting those committing the crime.

The disappearance of the files deals a severe blow to three relevant cases that could be pursued if evidence were available. Proceedings regarding two of the cases are currently under High Court stay orders and have been awaiting hearings for seventeen years. The other one is being proceeded with in the Dhaka Drug Court.

Documents available in court indicate clearly that the DGDA deliberately destroyed the cases. Meanwhile, people present during the 1992 drugs test recalled how proper steps regarding the matter had been bypassed since the very beginning.

The disappearance of the documents came to light after The Daily Star in November last year officially requested the DGDA for allowing access to all documents relating to drug adulteration in 1992 in compliance with the Right to Information Act.

"Samples of paracetamol syrups were collected from Shishu Hospital following a verbal order by the then Directorate of Drug Administration director general. Currently there is no record in the department on the samples collected," replied the DGDA in response to the request on March 23 this year.

Responding to a set of ten queries in the request, the DGDA said that except for Dhaka Shishu Hospital no institution had ever reported deaths of children owing to the administering of adulterated paracetamol syrup.

The report from Shishu Hospital was also verbal, said the reply.

The Daily Star retrieved documents from individuals about the drug test. Documents show the drug analysis conducted at a government owned institution under the direct supervision of government analysts and an expert consultant from the World Health Organisation (WHO) detected lethal chemical diethylene glycol in paracetamol syrups manufactured by five companies in 1992.

The test result was accurate beyond suspicion since subsequent independent testing -- undertaken in laboratories in the US and obtained by The Daily Star -- confirmed the results.

A number of doctors from Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) and Dhaka Shishu Hospital, involved in the matter at that time, also mentioned that deaths of children from acute renal failure following an intake of adulterated paracetamol syrup actually began in 1972 and by 1992 had killed over 2,000 children by 1992.

In December 1992, detection of the adulteration led to five cases being filed against four companies -- Adflame Pharmaceutical Ltd, Polychem Laboratories Ltd, BCI (Bangladesh) Ltd, and Rex Pharmaceutical.

The fifth company, City Chemical and Pharmaceutical Works Ltd, which was tested positive for producing adulterated paracetamol syrup, was spared prosecution for reasons unknown.

The DGDA, however, does not have any idea about the current status of any of the five cases, according to its reply. In an apparent move at self defence, the two-page letter said officials who had dealt with the issue are "either dead or already retired".

The Director General (DG) of the DGDA, Abul Kalam Azad, repeatedly insisted on his ignorance about the matter and admitted having no record protected.

Court records show that proceedings relating to one of the five cases -- one of the two filed against Adflame -- were suspended only two years into its filing, even before charges could be framed against the accused. The complainant, Abul Khair, the then drug superintendent, never appeared before the court with the seized evidence, although the court notified him five times within six months beginning from May 1994 about his appearance before it.

"The prosecution has failed to produce the seized Flamodol syrup [adulterated paracetamol syrup brand produced by Adflame]. As such charges cannot be framed. The proceedings of the case be stopped....and the accused be released," the court finally said in its order of November 2, 1994 in connection with the case.

In a recurrence after sixteen years, when another case filed against Adflame went into the trial process in 2009, Abul Khair gave a deposition in favour of the accused.

"The case was weakened with wrong documentation and specifically wrong presentation of seizure list, apparently an intentional mistake," said Public Prosecutor of Dhaka Drug Court Mahmud Hossain Jahangir regarding the case.

The allegation was substantiated by instances and the experiences of those present during the paracetamol syrup test at Essential Drug Companies Limited (EDCL), an autonomous drug manufacturing company of the government where the test took place.

"We repeatedly told the government high-ups present during the test that we wanted to properly record every step in the logbook of our company, but they said that wouldn't be necessary" said a senior EDCL official, adding, "Steps to have the total process of tests documented and recorded were deliberately avoided."

The only case which saw completion of a trial was against Rex Pharmaceutical, in which the prosecution failed to prove the adulteration charge as government drug analysts themselves raised suspicions over the authenticity of their own modalities of analyses. As a result the case was dismissed and the two accused were acquitted and released in 2003 by the Mymensingh Drug Court. The complainant, again, was Abul Khair.

The fallout is that adulteration of drugs continues to take place. In 2009 adulterated paracetamol produced by Rid Pharma reportedly killed 28 children.

"The government knows everything and sees children die," said Muhammad Ullah, an employee at Bangabhaban, who lost his one and a half year old son Tanvir Ahmed on September 16, 1990, several days after the child had been administered paracetamol syrup following a fever.

Microsoft Targets $400 Million From India

Microsoft is targeting revenue of $400 million from its Indian operations in its FY2011-12 (August to July), a 30 percent growth over the last fiscal.


The software major expects one-third of the revenue to come from the cloud business which in the past 12 months contributed only around 5 percent to its overall revenue.


Microsoft has laid out an aggressive strategy which includes restructuring its entire partner organization by making it more linear and creating dedicated account management teams to drive its cloud business.


The company has created separate teams and appointed regional business development managers (BDMs) for the north (including east), south and west (including central) regions. The regional managers have been empowered to identify their own focus areas and go-to-market for the cloud business. In addition, Microsoft has divided its cloud business into two teams—one for the mid-to-large enterprise segment and the other for SMBs. It has also created a team of cloud specialists who would help both customers and partners in deploying hybrid cloud services.


Partners have welcomed these changes. “Earlier, it was difficult for us to approach executives at Microsoft for any cloud-related difficulty. The cloud BDMs would now help us in drafting business plans and developing a joint go-to-market strategy,” said MP Kini, CEO, Kinfotech, a Bengaluru-based Microsoft partner.


“The strategy is much more focused and partner-friendly. So far Microsoft was treating most of its tier-2 partners as cloud services resellers. However, there is now tremendous focus on involving the partner in creating solutions around its cloud services. All such deals will now be stamped under the solution provider license agreement,” said Sudarsan Ranganathan, CEO, Veeras Infotek, another Bengaluru-based Microsoft partner.


According to partners, Microsoft has close to 1,200 cloud customers in India, most with less than 100 seats each. The company now aims to target customers with up to 1,000 seats for its online offerings—Office 365, Intune, CRM and Exchange Online.


“So far Microsoft was focusing largely on SMBs for its public cloud offerings, but henceforth the company will also focus on mid-to-large enterprises which are strong prospects for Microsoft’s hybrid cloud solutions. In fact we have been closely working on a couple of 500+ seat projects which have a strong element of private and public cloud solutions,” said Paresh Shah, Partner in the Mumbai-based
PH Teknow.


Microsoft is also increasing its training and marketing budgets. “Microsoft has committed a significant increase in marketing spends on cloud computing solutions. They also plan to invest substantially in conducting regular training and hands-on labs. Indian partners would have access to global launches faster than they have had before,” said Suresh Ramani, CEO, Techgyan, a Mumbai-based Microsoft partner.

Birishiri tree felling goes on

Netrakona Zila Parishad and forest department have failed to stop the chopping down of century-old trees beside a road in Birishiri and to comply with the High Court's 10-day status quo order.

Deputy Commissioner of Netrakona Anish Mahmud yesterday told The Daily Star that the chief executive officer of Netrakona Zila Parishad issued a letter to the contractors, the upazila nirbahi officer and the officer-in-charge of Durgapur Police Station to stop the felling of trees.

Chief Executive Officer Md Aftab Ali said a letter was issued to officials concerned of Durgapur asking them to halt the cutting of trees which was being done to make the road wider.

Upazila Nirbahi Officer of Durgapur Kamruzzaman Mia said he sent an official concerned to the contractors to stop the felling of trees but the contractors did not stop.

Officer-in-Charge of Durgapur Police Station Abul Kalam Azad said he did not get any letter from the zila parishad asking him to stop the chopping down of trees.

The High Court on Tuesday directed the government to maintain status quo for 10 days on felling of trees on both sides of a road between Janjail Bazar and Durgapur upazila in Netrakona. The order came following a writ petition filed by Liton Mrong, general secretary of Garo Baptist Convention.

Liton Mrong yesterday said cutting trees is continuing. Two contractors at the spot instructed workers to continue their work.

Lawmaker the 'land-gobbler' His 2 firms filling up water body, forcing locals to sell their lands in 'national interest'; MP Aslamul Haque denies

Two private power companies are indiscriminately filling up a khas (govt-owned) water body and private land by the Buriganga river forcing the local people to sell their land to the companies-- all in the name of setting up two power plants and an amusement park.

Land owners in Looterchar and Waaspur across the Buriganga are too terrified to complain about the matter. They said Awami League lawmaker from Dhaka-4 constituency Mohammad Aslamul Haque is chairman of the two companies that are implementing the project.

“We were first told that we have to sell our land to facilitate setting up power plants in national interest,” said a local land owner asking not to be named. “But we became suspicious as they [companies] started filling up low-lying land one after another not even bothering to ask the owners.”

The local people also alleged that part of the Buriganga has also been grabbed by the companies-- Dhaka West Power Ltd and CLC Power Company Ltd. Besides, they have filled up the mouth of what remained of Atir Khal, a canal that used to connect Buriganga with vast areas of Keraniganj.

The huge water body on the northern side of the project site, which retains water round the year and greatly helps irrigation for farming, has been demarcated with bamboo poles for filling up. Part of the water body has already been filled up with dredging spoils from the project.

“They (companies) started filling up the area and then asked us to see them with land deeds,” said a local man with 10 kathas of land. “They offered me Tk 4 lakh for each katha but when I went to take the money, a dalal [middleman] of the company deducted 20 percent from the payment.”

When this correspondent contacted the companies' office at Dhanmondi, General Manager Anwar Hossain said they require 45 acres of land in the area to set up two power plants and an amusement park.

“The local people have enthusiastically offered their land for the project of such national interest, we have not grabbed an inch there,” said Anwar. “The water body that we demarcated is not khas, we are trying to buy it from the local people."

He also said, “The power plants are expected to be connected to the national grid by June next year.”

Asked, Aslamul Haque said his companies have bought land at fair price from the owners who have willingly come forward to sell that for this national project.

“It is not true that we shall set up an amusement park, and it is out of the question that we have demarcated the water body or khas land on the northern side [of the project]. We do not need any khas land,” said the ruling party lawmaker, contradicting what his companies' general manager said.

“Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority has issued us a certificate mentioning that we have not grabbed any part of the Buriganga. And we are soon obtaining environmental clearance certificate from the Department of Environment (DoE),” Aslamul said.

Mohammad Shajahan, DoE director (technical) and convenor of the Environmental Clearance Committee, told The Daily Star that since power plants are categorised in the red, his office has scrutinised the companies' application and asked them to produce all land documents and clearances from BIWTA and the deputy commissioner's office.

“We have asked them to provide the certificate mentioning that the river or any wetland has not been filled up for the project,” Shahjahan added.

In February this year, a DoE enforcement team filed a case against Aslamul with Keraniganj Police Station accusing him of starting a project for power plant without environmental clearance, filling up and polluting the Buriganga.

DoE sources said they had also seized four bulldozers from the site and put a ban on the project work. Later, the companies procured a certificate from BIWTA which cleared them of occupying the river.

“On the basis of the BIWTA certificate, the companies restarted the work although the ban has not been lifted yet,” said a DoE enforcement official.

Faith, hope and transformation in the scientific age

The first of March 1932 seemed like any other working day for the miners of La Paz in Mexico. They donned their helmets, picked up their shovels and descended the shaft ready to dig.

But on this day disaster struck; the roof fell in burying Espiridon Suniga and Juan Martines.

Fearing the worst their fellow miners desperately dug away at the debris, but when they reached the men Juan Martines was already dead.

Seriously injured, seeing his deceased colleague lying by his side, Espiridon Suniga feared his fate would be the same and he fervently prayed to St Francis of Assisi to save his life.

In 2008 the life of Cristobel Munoz also hung in the balance. Born six weeks early, underdeveloped and weighing less than 3lbs, his parents feared their son would not survive.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote

There is a definite contractual element - deliver my needs and I will repay you with a painting”

Antonia Bruce Exhibition Co-curator

Like the miner, 70 years before him, Cristobel's father, Martinez Munoz, fell back on his faith. And like Espiridon Suniga, his prayers were answered and his son survived.

What connects these two tales of life and death across the decades is a rich Mexican Catholic tradition.

Having received divine intervention both Espiridon Suniga and Martinez Munoz repaid the debt by commissioning a retablo, or votive painting - small, colourful depictions of their moments of crisis - to celebrate the saintly intervention and give thanks for that help.

Human 'cloning' makes embryonic stem cells

A form of cloning has been used to create personalised embryonic stem cells in humans, say researchers.

Genetic material was taken from an adult skin cell and transferred into a human egg. This was grown to produce an early embryo.

Stem cells have huge potential in medicine as they can transform into any other cell type in the body.

However, the stem cells formed contained chromosomes from both the adult and the egg cells.

The technique used - somatic cell nuclear transfer - shot to fame in 1997 when Dolly the sheep, the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell, was unveiled to the world.

TB smoking toll 'could reach 40m'

Forty million smokers could die from TB by 2050, research suggests.

Smokers are about twice as likely to get the lung infection and die from it, compared with non-smokers.

Many of the new TB cases will be in Africa, the eastern Mediterranean and Southeast Asian regions, according to projections published in the BMJ.

A lung charity said global efforts to fight TB are being undermined by the tobacco industry's "aggressive promotion" of smoking in some places.

Dr John Moore-Gillon is a TB specialist and honorary medical advisor for the British Lung Foundation.

He said: "It is nearly 20 years since the World Health Organization declared tuberculosis to be a 'global health emergency'.

"Since that time rates have risen rather than fallen, and smoking increases the risk of getting - and dying from - TB.

"Concerted international efforts are now under way to try and turn the tide of TB, but this important research shows that all these efforts may be undermined by the tobacco industry's continuing aggressive promotion of smoking in many parts of the world."

UNESCO puts controversial Obiang prize on hold, again

A research prize named after Equatorial Guinea's president, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo — and funded by him to the tune of US$3 million — will remain suspended, following the latest decision in a saga, made at a UNESCO (UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) board meeting in France yesterday (4 October).

"The UNESCO board decided to put together a working group that will continue to consult on the prize, with a view to getting a final decision by April next year," a source at the organisation told SciDev.Net.

The UNESCO-Obiang Nguema Mbasogo International Prize for Research in the Life Sciences was agreed by the organisation's member states in November 2008 "in recognition of scientific achievements that improve the quality of human life".

The prize was first suspended in January 2010, just a few weeks before its inaugural winner was to be announced, following concerns over the human rights record of Obiang's regime. The African Union (AU) considered taking over the prize in August 2010, and UNESCO put it on hold indefinitely in October 2010.

The prize has been backed by African and Arab representatives at UNESCO, and Obiang secured a resolution in favour of the prize at an AU summit in June, which he hosted in in Equatorial Guinea, which currently holds the rotating AU chair.

A Paris-based diplomat said that by April, Obiang will no longer hold the AU chair, which will make it easier to break down the Africa consensus and reject the prize. Had the vote been taken this week, its proponents might have won, UNESCO diplomats said.

A number of African delegates said they were only supporting the prize because they did not want to be seen to be bullied by the UN system and Western states.

In her address to the board last week (30 September), UNESCO director-general Irina Bokova called on Equatorial Guinea to withdraw the prize as a way of protecting and preserving the organisation's reputation and its good relations with the scientific community, which does not support the prize.

But Kenneth Hurwitz, a senior legal officer at the Open Society Justice Initiative, in New York, which organised a signatory campaign of eminent writers and activists against the prize, including many from Africa, described the deferment as "timid".

"UNESCO continues to drag its feet when it comes to taking a principled stance against creating a prize that honours a dictator," Hurwitz told SciDev.Net.

"The proper response to Obiang's shameless attempt at self-glorification is to abolish the prize once and for all, with the money to be used for high quality, affordable hospitals and schools for Equatorial Guinea's people."

Tutu Alicante, exiled from Equatorial Guinea and executive director of EG Justice, a non-governmental organisation, said "the UNESCO board needs to end this debate once and for all by rejecting this prize outright".

Mokhlesur Rahman's solo art exhibition in Rome

Mokhlesur Rahman's solo art exhibition, titled “Beautiful Bengal”, will open on October 8 at the Culture Association Utopia, Via degli Zingari in Rome. The Bangladeshi Ambassador to Italy, Masud Bin Momen, will inaugurate the exhibition, says a press release.

Rahman is one of the very few artists in Bangladesh, who are working on woodcut prints. He has been working in the medium for a while.

Rahman's preferred themes are romanticism and rural Bengal landscapes. Greenery, flora, fauna, mustard fields, moonlit nights, the unique hues nature takes on throughout the six seasons and the unparalleled beauty of rural Bengal appear in his works intimately and vibrantly.