Ouch, this one hurts. No, not the injection itself, but the information in the test report that has just come in on the quality of sterile water sold in ampoules for injection purposes.

Water for injection? That's right. Not all drugs can be taken orally because the digestive juices in the gastrointestinal tract counteract them. Also, in emergencies drugs taken orally may take too long to act and are, therefore, injected. Drugs in powder form are dissolved in water to prepare a solution, and this water has to be distilled and absolutely sterile-contamination can prove dangerous.

In the tests carried out by the Ahmedabad-based Consumer Education and Research Centre (CERC) on eight brands of sterile water for injection sold across the country, two brands were found to contain bacterial endotoxins that are poisonous and can cause fevers, chills and bodyache. In seriously ill patients, endotoxins can even prove fatal.

Hindustan Pharmaceuticals and Rathi Laboratories (Hindustan) Pvt Ltd were the two manufacturers whose samples were found contaminated. The bacterial levels in the injection fluid exceeded the limits set by the Indian Pharmacopoeia.

Releasing the details of the test report in the July-August issue of Insight magazine, CERC observes that "either the processing (of the water) was not done under adequately clean conditions or the water was not distilled well enough to remove the endotoxins (which are present on the cell walls of certain micro-organisms found in the environment)". Either way, the hapless patient can only suffer aggravation rather than mitigation of his/her illness.

Just as worrisome as the poor quality of the brands is the attitude of the manufacturers whose products were investigated. As a policy, CERC conveys the results of its laboratory test findings to the manufacturers concerned. Neither Hindustan Pharmaceuticals nor Rathi Laboratories (Hindustan) even cared to respond to the CERC's findings.

Take it or leave it. That's their attitude. Right, I would say, leave those contaminated brands at a safe distance ...

-Sakuntala Narasimhan

Lever Loses its Grip

Biscuits and antiseptics have little in common but they occupy top- shelf space in the consumer's mind. Dettol was rated as India's most trusted brand, while biscuit-maker Britannia climbed from the 13th last year to the second slot. A surprise entry in the brand equity annual survey on the most trusted brands was Tata Salt at No. 4. Among the losers was consumer giant Hindustan Lever Limited. Last year, four of its brands were among the top 10. This time, it's down to two-Ponds and Pepsodent. Lux slipped from No. 1 to 5. The cola rankings were predictable: Coke 6th, Pepsi 9th and Thums Up 10th.