ABSTRACT
Three fatalities from the accidental ingestion of methomyl, a carbamate pesticide, are reported. The methomyl had been stored in an unlabeled tin can and was accidentally used in preparing "roti," an Indian dish. The identification of the source of the poison through animal tests and further chemical identification is described. The lethal dose of methomyl was estimated to have been between 12 and 15 mg/kg body weight.
Subject(s)
Bread/poisoning , Insecticides/poisoning , Methomyl/poisoning , Accidents , Autopsy , Bread/analysis , Humans , Jamaica , Male , Methomyl/analysis , ToxicologyABSTRACT
In January 1976, 79 persons in Jamaica were acutely poisoned by the organophosphorus insecticide parathion. Seventeen died. Cases occurred in three episodes at separate locations, but all patients had consumed wheat flour from a single lot consisting of 5264 cotton bags. Parathion in concentrations of less than 1 to 9900 ppm was identified in flour from six bags in this lot; three had splash marks. The flour had been milled in Western Europe from European wheat, carried in trucks to a dockside warehouse, and loaded aboard ship after 2-5 days' storage. In Jamaica, the flour had moved from quayside to outbreak locations along separate routes through two import houses. Site inspections and review of shipping records suggested that the likely point of contamination was the European port, where foodstuffs and insecticides were stored in the same warehouse.
Subject(s)
Flour , Food Contamination , Parathion/poisoning , Adolescent , Adult , Child , Child, Preschool , Disease Outbreaks , Epidemiologic Methods , Female , Flour/analysis , Humans , Infant , Jamaica , Male , Parathion/analysisABSTRACT
In January 1976, 79 persons in Jamaica were acutely poisoned by the organophosphorous insecticide parathion. Seventeen died. Cases occurred in three episodes at separate locations, but all patients had consumed wheat flour from a single lot consisting of 5264 cotton bags. Parathion in concentrations of <1 to 9900 ppm was identified in flour from six bags in this lot: three had splash marks. The flour had been milled in Wertern Europe from European wheat, carried in trucks to a dockside warehouse, and loaded aboard ship after 2-5 days' storage. In Jamaica, the flour had moved from quayside to outbreak locations along separate routes through two import houses. Site inspections and review of shipping records suggested that the likely point of contamination was the European port, where foodstuffs and insectisides were stored in the same warehouse (AU)
Subject(s)
Humans , Infant , Child, Preschool , Child , Adolescent , Adult , Male , Female , Food Contamination , Flour/analysis , Parathion/analysis , Parathion/poisoning , Disease Outbreaks , Epidemiologic Methods , English Abstract , JamaicaSubject(s)
Abnormalities, Drug-Induced , Cannabis/toxicity , Animals , Female , Pregnancy , Pregnancy, Animal/drug effects , RatsABSTRACT
The resin of cannabis sativa L. (Ganga) exerts teratogenic effects in the rat when it is administered daily, at a dose level of 4.2 mg./kg. body weight on days 1-6 of gestation. The teratogenic effects are manifested in the following ways: a high incidence of malformed foetuses in the litters of treated animals, an increase in the incidence of foetal resorption, and a decrease in foetal weight and size. These results are of particular interest in relation to recent reports on the teratogenicity of another psychotropic drug, LSD (Alexander et al 1967 and Zellweger et al 1967) (AU)
