Seven charged in Panama Social Security deaths scandal.

(Newswroompanama.com) Events leading to the deaths of over 150 people in Panama from poisoned cough mixture "were foreseeable, preventable and avoidable" says a government prosecutor.

Dimas Guevara was referring to the 2006 wave of deaths caused by cough mixture containing DEG (diethylene glycol) a substance used in anti freeze.

Criminal complaints were served Thursday on seven people who served on the Social Security board of directors in 2006.
Two of those charged are still on the Social Security Board.

Charged were Francisco Icaza, Guillermo Puga, Lastenia Canto, José Miró, Manuel Tajú, Erasmo Muñoz and Roberto Valencia. Puga, Canto and Tajú are still on the board.

Guevara said that the board members "had full knowledge that the institution was producing drugs...that had a high risk of contamination." The events that unfolded "were foreseeable, preventable and avoidable."

There have been more than 150 deaths attributed to the tainted cough syrup, and hundreds more people have been suffering from side effects of the poisoning. In October this year 200 new cases reported to prosecutors.

Survivors of victims, and those still suffering, have been on the streets of Panama calling for justice, treatment and compensation.

When the poisonings wer first discover the Government collected over around 6,000 bottles of cough syrup and three other products manufactured by Social Security Laboratories with tainted glycerin.

Forty-six barrels of syrup were bought by Social Security Laboratories through a Panamanian middleman, Grupo Comercial Medicom, who bought the product from Rasfer Internacional, a Spanish company. Rasfer received the product from a Chinese company, since closed down.

Later Chinese made tooth paste containing DEG was discovered in Panama, leading to a world wide scare and the banning in most countries of products containing the solvent.

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Original Source: Newsroompanama.com

Date Retrieved: November 19, 2010.