Urban women who hit puberty in the late 1980s will probably be familiar with Baralgan . A popular brand made up of analgin and two other drugs, Baralgan provided relief from the pain of menstrual cramps that countless young women experience. In 1996, the Indian government banned the combination of the drug Analgin with any other drugs. Apparently, even as I was merrily popping it for pain, the scientific and regulatory community had been discussing whether analgin could send people to the emergency room. The ban was the result of global concerns about the safety of Analgin .
The drug was linked to serious side-effects such as a severely compromised immune system. Regulators the world over were grappling with whether these occurred often enough to entirely discredit the drug. Indian activists called for an outright ban. Instead, the Indian government banned the combination of analgin…
