Suspected of Triggering Acute Kidney Injury in Children: Import Volumes of Ethylene Glycol and Diethylene Glycol

The Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) has detected three hazardous chemicals (ethylene glycol/EG, diethylene glycol/DEG, and ethylene glycol butyl ether/EGBE) in the bodies of patients suffering from acute kidney injury.

Head of the Public Communication and Service Bureau of the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes), Siti Nadia Tarmizi, stated that these three chemicals are suspected to be the cause of dozens of acute kidney injury cases found in Gambia, Central Africa. Therefore, Kemenkes has temporarily halted the sale and use of liquid or syrup-based medications to save children.

As reported by *BBC.com*, Kemenkes has collected syrup medications from the homes of toddlers suffering from acute kidney injury. The results showed that several types of syrup medications used by patients contained the chemicals EG, DEG, and EGBE, which should not be present or should be present only in very small amounts in these syrup medications.

Data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) shows that imports of EG and DEG chemicals totaled 285,510 tons between January and July 2022. The details are: 276,810 tons with code (Harmonized System/HS 29053100) and 8,700 tons with code (HS 29094100).

Meanwhile, the volume of DEG imports reached 9,620 tons in June-July 2022. The details are: 68,760 tons with code (HS 2904300) and 860.25 tons with code (HS 29094400).