No phenobarbital was detected in blood samples from four students at a private preschool in New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋) who had tested positive for the drug earlier this month, the city government said on Tuesday, citing the results of confirmatory mass spectrometry tests.
The four were among eight students at the preschool who tested positive earlier this month for the long-acting barbiturate, which is used as a sedative, the New Taipei City Department of Health said.
It was recommended that blood specimens from the four be kept and further analyzed as the result needed to be confirmed, it said.
Photo: Wu Po-hsuan, Taipei Times
The blood was tested by Taipei Veterans General Hospital on Thursday last week using mass spectrometry, which is more accurate, the health department said.
The results of the confirmatory tests were negative for phenobarbital, it said.
Teachers at the Banciao preschool were suspected of drugging the students with sedatives, prompting the Ministry of Health and Welfare on June 8 to instruct its Taipei Hospital to provide preschoolers with free blood tests to check for traces of sedatives.
The latest results confirm that Vice President and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate William Lai (賴清德) and DPP officials have been spreading disinformation about the case, and they should apologize for creating panic, said Hank Chen (陳柏翰), a spokesperson for the campaign office of New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), who is the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate.
Over the past few weeks, the DPP has accused the New Taipei City Government of dragging its feet with regards to holding the preschool responsible and providing assistance to affected children and their parents.
Meanwhile, Hou and the KMT have accused the DPP of spreading rumors about the case to score political points and prosecutors of dragging their feet in the investigation to assist the ruling party.
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