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From Our Own Correspondent: The parents suing over Gambia’s cough syrup scandal

09/09/2023

The parents suing over Gambia’s cough syrup scandal

BBC Radio 4 - From Our Own Correspondent, The parents suing over Gambia’s cough syrup scandal

More than 70 small children died after taking an allegedly toxic medicine.

Did a tainted drug kill more than 70 Gambian infants? Plus tales from Iran's protests, the trial of a Proud Boy in Washington, Chile's coup anniversary and a Hungarian distillery.

Kate Adie introduces stories from The Gambia, Iran, the USA, Chile and Hungary.

Dozens of bereaved families in the Gambia are taking legal action against an Indian drug manufacturer and Gambian health authorities, after more than 70 infants died after taking apparently toxic cough remedies. Sam Bradpiece heard their stories and traces how these medicines came to market.

As Iran approaches the first anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini, the authorities are already cracking down on signs of public dissent. She was a young woman arrested for "incorrect hijab", whose fate triggered a wave of protest across Iran. Lois Pryce speaks to some of the generation of young women who took to the streets a year ago, and  now say they're ready to do so again.

The Capitol riot on the 6th of January 2021 is still roiling American politics - as some high-profile Republican politicians say the people who were involved were patriots who shouldn't be punished. But the courts have issued verdict after verdict against the architects of the disorder. Mike Wendling reports from Washington DC on the sentencing of a leading figure in the chaos - Enrique Tarrio, former leader of activist group the Proud Boys.

In Chile there's been heated debate over how best to mark the fifty years since General Pinochet's military takeover.  These days few people deny the killings, torture and disappearances were committed during his dictatorship - but up to a third of Chileans are willing to say the coup was necessary.  Jane Chambers considers the nuances of a country torn between left and right. 

It's been a terrible year for fruit in Hungary - so Nick Thorpe was prepared to go without his usual annual ritual of making his pear crop into homemade brandy. But as it turned out, an unexpected windfall of 200kilos of sour cherries would fuel an even more potent brew...

00:42 Gambia's cough-syrup scandal
06:29 The death of Mahsa Amini one year on
12:03 Proud Boys leader sentenced
17:14 Pinochet's coup: 50 years on
22:58 Our correspondent's homemade Hungarian brandy

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