The WHO had issued an alert in October advising regulators to stop the sale of the syrups, made by an Indian firm.An Indian government official told the BBC that the WHO was "presumptuous" in blaming the syrups.On 13 December, Dr VG Somani, India's drugs controller general, wrote a letter to the WHO saying that the samples it tested at a government laboratory "were found not to have been contaminated" with the compounds."Subsequent inspections, tests and studies by Government of India's notified bodies and technical team have shown that WHO's presumptuous statement was untrue and incorrect," said Kanchan Gupta, adding that the health body had "[jumped] the gun without valid scientific reasons"."WHO-contracted laboratories in Ghana and Switzerland tested the suspected cough syrups products from The Gambia and confirmed excess levels of ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol," it said, adding that it immediately shared the results with authorities in The Gambia and India, as well as with Maiden Pharmaceutical officials."