|
Abstract
|
Ten Florida residents, most of them small children, lost their lives in 1961 from contact with the organic phosphate insecticide, Parathion. A brief discussion of the circumstances leading to the deaths is presented below.
Several cases and two deaths occurred in Tampa among five children who took an innocent-looking burlap bag from a trash-pile. The bag had previously been placed around a sack of fertilizer taken from a watermelon field and transported to Tampa. The children filled the bag with rags and used it as a swing. Approximately 8 hours after swinging from the bag, one little girl was taken to the hospital and died soon after admission. Her little brother became ill shortly thereafter and died in the hospital during that same night. Three other children who had played with the swing were taken to the hospital but recovered. The burlap bag upon chemical examination by the United States Public Health Service was found to have been contaminated with an oil solution of parathion. A third death resulted when a child was exposed to 15% parathion and chlordane dust which had been applied inside the home by an unlicensed pest control operator; he was untrained and offered his services illegally. The most recent death in Tampa occurred in a 17-year-old boy who was handling empty parathion drums which had not been decontaminated before their sale to a junk dealer. Six other children died during 1961 from contact with parathion, which in most cases had been taken into the home.
Note: While an extremely useful pesticide, the organic phosphate, Parathion, is an extremely toxic agent easily absorbed through the unbroken skin. The minimal lethal dose of parathion for an adult is 300 milligrams or less. The fatal dosage for children is extremely low. The organic phosphate insecticides produce their symptomatology through inactivation of the enzyme cholinesterase. Early symptoms of phosphatic poisoning in man are nausea, tightness in the chest, giddiness, abdominal pain, headaches, excessive sweating, twitching of muscles, and salivation. Frequently the eyes will have pinpoint, non-reactive pupils. Other symptoms include slowed heartbeat, loss of reflexes, convulsions, and coma. Phosphatic poisoning in the early stages is some- times mistaken for heat exhaustion, severe respiratory infection, or asthma.
(Abstracted from Florida Health Notes, May 1962, published by the Florida State Board of Health.) |