India’s Ministry of Health has banned the use of plastics in the primary packaging of liquid oral drug formulations used by pediatric and geriatric patients and women of reproductive age. The domestic industry was given six months to make the switch to glass packaging, a government official said Tuesday, according to a report by Pharmaceutical & Medical Packaging News. The country has been looking into the health hazards of using polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles since last year. The health ministry established that endocrine disrupters, chemicals that interfere with the hormone system that are present in plastics, can adversely affect humans, and that glass packaging ensures higher stability and efficacy of formulations. India’s environment played a role in the decision as high temperatures that prevail in most parts of the country increase the risk that plastics will degrade. Drug manufactures argued that PET is widely used in the pharmaceutical industry, even in the highly regulated markets of the US, UK, and Japan.