Insecticide-tainted food kills 24 Peruvian children

Twenty four children died and another twenty one needed hospital treatment after their school breakfast was contaminated with the organophosphate insecticide parathion. John Harvey reports.

The incident happened in a remote Andean community in Cuzco province, Peru. Official reports said the children picked up a bag of milk powder left in front of a house not knowing that it had been mixed with parathion by a farmer who planned to kill dogs and rats.
    The milk powder was part of a consignment donated to the village of Taucamarca by the government as part of a nutrition programme. In late October, it was served to the children, aged between three and fourteen, who began vomiting and convulsing within half an hour of eating their contaminated breakfast. Some parents were able to carry their children to a town one and a half hours walk away from the village. These children were taken to hospital in Cuzco city.
    Parathion is one of the most dangerous pesticides developed for use on crops. It is classified by the World Health Organisation as Ia ‘extremely hazardous’ – three drops is enough to kill a man weighing 60kg.
    Pesticides containing the active ingredient ethyl-parathion are banned from use in Peru, while those containing methyl parathion are severely restricted.
    But Luis Gomero of Red de Accion en Alternativas al uso de Agroquimicos (RAAA-PAN Latin America, which campaigns for alternatives to pesticides) said parathion is the most commonly used pesticide in Cuzco. “Parathion is a forbidden product or severely regulated because it is highly dangerous. That is why there are a series of legal regulations. However the farmers from Taucamarca owned parathion and didn’t intend to use it for pest control, they used it to kill dogs and rodents.”
    RAAA is asking the Ministry of Health to start a monitoring programme to ensure that government-donated food is not contaminated with toxic substances. The Ministries of Health and Agriculture are also being asked to track pesticide poisonings throughout the country. As part of this programme, doctors and nurses would have to be trained in the symptoms and treatment of poisoning cases. RAAA wants the government to enforce existing pesticide laws and introduce new laws promoting safer alternatives.
    People from Andean communities such as Taucamarca live in extreme poverty. Many are illiterate and lack medical, social and technical support. “The problem of pesticides in Cuzco is not new,” said Mr Gomero. “But this is the first time it has come to public attention so that even the farmers are aware of what is happening.”
    Farmers buy parathion from illegal street markets and farm supply shops. It is cheap, and known to be an effective poison. They have no storage facilities for pesticides, no protective clothing and a lack of understanding about the need for safe handling, storage and use of pesticides. Some even mix pesticides in pots used to store their own food. 
    Mr Gomero said the risks associated with unrestricted pesticide sales had been known about for some time, but they had not attracted public attention. National pesticides regulations have been published, but these are more relevant for preventing the adulteration of chemical products and promoting the proper sale of pesticides than for helping to protect consumers. 
    “This incident raises several questions,” said Mr Gomero. “Are farmers having proper training – particularly those who live in very poor regions? When will the street sales of pesticides end? How many more children must die as scapegoats before somebody does something about these deadly chemicals? In Andean cities, they have a saying that letters written in blood are really listened to: but do they have to be written with the blood of innocents?” 

John Harvey is a broadcaster and writer on farming issues.

[This article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 46, December 1999, page 3]