Bangladesh - 11 children dead after eating litchi possibly contaminated with pesticide

[Ronan Kelly]

6 bodies formed to probe death of 8 children
28 June, 2015 01:34

Dinajpur: The district administration has formed six committees to investigate the death of eight children who died at Dinajpur Medical College Hospital in the last three weeks after eating litchis.
The committees, headed by Dinajpur deputy commissioner Ahmed Shamim Al Razi, were formed on Thursday after the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) found that pesticides in litchi caused the death of the eight children, additional deputy commissioner Abu Raihan Miah said.
Upazila Nirbahi Officers (UNOs), Upzila Health Officers and officer-in-charges of different police stations were also included in the committees, Abu Raihan Miah said.
The committees were asked to submit their reports by seven working days, he added.
A total of 12 children from different places of the district were admitted to the hospital?s pediatrics unit with severe convulsion and fever in between May 29 and June 18.
Eleven of the children died at the hospital within two to 48 hours after their admission.
Of the 11 victims, three were from Dinajpur Sadar upazila, four from Birganj and one each from Parbatipur, Birol, Kaharol and Chirirbandar upazilas.
After the incident, a four-member team of IEDCR visited different areas of Dinajpur to investigate the reason behind the death and it finally submitted a report citing that eight of the 11 victims died due to eating contaminated litchi.

http://daily-sun.com/post/54409/<p>6-bodies-formednbspto-probe-death-of-8-children</p>

 

[Ronan Kelly]

Steps needed against pesticide poisoning
June 27, 2015 12:09 am?0 Comments
THE death of eight children caused by unintentional pesticide poisoning in litchi orchards in three weeks in Dinajpur is, no doubt, a piece of sad news but what it points to is a failure of the government ? partially, if not wholly ? in its pesticide regime. The children, aged 2?6 years, died, as New Age reported on Friday, of convulsion and associated shivering after they had been exposed to pesticides, which were applied to litchi trees, through their skins, in cases pesticide residues were yet to go off, ingestion, in cases they had eaten the litchis that fell off the trees, or probably inhalation, in cases there had been a heavy use of pesticides. This all means that litchi growers or orchard caretakers are not adequately informed of, and educated in, the use of pesticides. Growers in cases, as the report said, usually use pesticides 20 times in the litchis between flowering and fruit harvesting, which approximately spans 36 to 40 days, while they are supposed to use the pesticide only three times in the period. Harvesting should also take place not in 10 to 12 days after pesticide application, as it is the usual duration for chemical residues to go off, but growers often do not leave the gap between the last application of pesticide and harvesting.
...
- See more at: http://newagebd.net/133113/steps-needed-against-pesticide-poisoning/#sthash.TAgWSSlP.dpuf