The Center has asked the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) to carry out a detailed study to assess whether there is any leaching of plastic bottles into the liquid medicine formulations stored in them.
Last year, a government study found toxic materials, including lead, in bottles of cough syrups and other liquid medications. He concluded that harmful substances are released from such bottles and suggested banning the use of such packaging to maintain the drugs.
It has been more than two and a half years since a draft directive from the Union Health Ministry attempted to replace plastic and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles with glass to store pharmaceutical preparations.
A ministry source said the finding was backed by the country's highest statutory authority on drug standards - the Drug Technical Advisory Board (DTAB). "The DTAB also recommended that plastic and PET bottles should not be used for bottling medicines, especially meant for children and elderly people," the source said.
These findings, which came out in May 2016, were contrary to the findings of another panel of experts led by former biotech secretary MK Bhan. The MK Bhan panel said in March of that year that there is no conclusive evidence to suggest that the use of PET or additive such as antimony for pharmaceutical packaging can leach substances beyond limits that pose a threat to the human health.
The study, presented in May 2016, was conducted by the government’s All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health (AIIH & PH).
It had been found that four heavy metals - lead, antimony, Di- (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (known as DEHP) and chromium - had been leached in the five pharmaceutical formulations that were tested. The degree of leaching with antimony, chromium, lead and DEHP from PET bottles grew as temperature increased.
The ICMR has asked the National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad, to plan and conduct the study.
