The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday confirmed that eight people who fell ill due to suspected food poisoning in Taitung County had terbufos, a hazardous chemical compound found in some pesticides, in their systems.
Terbufos, which can potentially kill humans, is used on various crops, including bananas, beans, citrus, coffee, groundnuts, sorghum and maize as soil cover to combat wireworms, mossy beetles, beet flies and black bean lice.
Human biological samples, including blood, serum and urine, were delivered to the National Taiwan University’s (NTU) Department of Forensic Medicine and the Taipei Veterans General Hospital’s (TVGH) Department of Occupational Medicine and Clinical Toxicology for testing following the incident that killed three people, the CDC said.
Photo: Lin Hui-chin, Taipei Times
The NTU department has reported back confirming the presence of terbufos in the eight sampled patients, CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said.
The findings were consistent with the results produced by the Food and Drug Administration on “food waste” samples, which showed traces of the hazardous chemical compound, he added.
However, metaldehyde, an organic compound that is often used as a pesticide against slugs and snails, was not detected in the eight patients, he said.
Some have speculated metaldehyde poisoning as being the cause of the incident.
Yang Chen-chang (楊振昌), who heads the TVGH’s toxicology department, said that four of the eight sampled patients were found to have reduced acetylcholinesterase, reflecting organophosphate poisoning.
Cyanide poisoning was not detected, contrary to speculation, Yang added.
The suspected food poisoning occurred on Tuesday when an 83-year-old woman surnamed Tseng (曾) died after eating some of the millet dumplings she had made. That evening, several relatives and friends who came to mourn her death and ate the leftover dumplings and other items in Tseng’s kitchen later exhibited symptoms such as vomiting and convulsions.
Two died, six were placed in intensive care and three others received treatment the following day.
Taitung Mackay Memorial Hospital yesterday said that the three patients under intensive care were expected to be transferred to an ordinary ward later in the day as their conditions have improved.
Taitung Christian Hospital and the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Taitung Hospital said the conditions of the patients under their care have also improved.
Taitung County Public Health Bureau Director Sun Kuo-ping (孫國平) said health inspectors and the local police found an open pack of fipronil, an insecticide, in Tseng’s kitchen during their investigation of the incident.
Taitung District Prosecutors’ Office chief prosecutor Chen Yen-chiu (陳妍萩) declined to comment on its link to the case, saying that autopsies were expected to be conducted on the deceased later yesterday.
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