> A batch of the syrup contained ethylene glycol, which the ministry said was a toxic substance.<p>Echoes of the past here.<p>> In 1937, S. E. Massengill Company, a pharmaceutical manufacturer, created an oral preparation of sulfanilamide using diethylene glycol (DEG) as the solvent or excipient, and called the preparation "Elixir Sulfanilamide".<p>> Elixir sulfanilamide was an improperly prepared sulfonamide antibiotic that caused mass poisoning in the United States in 1937. It is believed to have killed more than 100 people. The public outcry caused by this incident and other similar disasters led to the passing of the 1938 Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, which significantly increased the Food and Drug Administration's powers to regulate drugs.<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elixir_sulfanilamide" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elixir_sulfanilamide</a>