54 sickened by suicide's toxic vomit

[The Straight Story]

54 sickened by suicide's toxic vomit

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Fifty-four people were sickened at a hospital by toxic fumes from the vomit of a man who apparently attempted suicide by swallowing pesticide Wednesday night, police said.

The toxic gas, believed to be a vaporized form of liquid pesticide, came from a 34-year-old farmer from Koshi, Kumamoto Prefecture, who was undergoing treatment at the Japanese Red Cross Kumamoto Hospital emergency room in Kumamoto at about 11 p.m.

Doctors, nurses, visiting patients and their families who inhaled the toxic fumes suffered pain in their eyes and throat. Ten of them were admitted to the Red Cross hospital and other hospitals. One of the 10, a 72-year-old woman, suffered breathing difficulty and was in serious condition Thursday.

The man was later confirmed dead from pesticide poisoning.

According to the police, rescue workers and the hospital, the pesticide was chloropicrin, a substance designated as toxic under law.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20080523TDY02304.htm

[marmar]

1. Just when you think the world can't get any more bizarre.....

n/t

[JeffR]

2. Hard to see a silver lining here

but, well, at least it didn't happen in my native Florida. And these days every damn unfortunate, nasty thing seems to happen in Florida first...

[knitter4democracy]

3. Or your sister state, Michigan.

I thought the same thing about Michigan when I read it.

We almost lost a dog once to her eating pesticide. She never was the same, either. Massive brain damage.

[JeffR]

7. There was a case locally a couple of years ago of some maniac

planting pesticide-soaked food scraps in a dog park. Killed half a dozen dogs and sickened many others.

They never caught the psycho either. I love to let our dogs run free, but I worry like hell about them these days if they're anywhere but the back yard. Sorry to hear your friend suffered that way.

[Crunchy Frog]

4. Doesn't this belong in GD/P?

[Junkdrawer]

5. Nah, It's about suicide, not assasination...Although...

Hillary's comments were a form of political suicide.

[Crunchy Frog]

6. I was thinking they were more a form of toxic vomit.