Chemicals and death

Agricultural chemicals have caused sickness and death to both humans and fish in the South Pacific recendy A child in Western Samoa is dead, and his mother and three other children were in hospital gravely ill, after possibly having eaten some weed-killer with their evenmg meah The mother and her children of Faleasui-uta had begun their evening meal when the children started to vomit. Their sickness struck the whole family, When the mother tried to attract the attention of a passer-by two days later, her child was dead while she and the other children could hardly move. They had been without food for two days and rs 0 nights. They were rushed to hospital and given blood trans- T t °° s * , - - It s strongly suspected that the

water used for cooking the meal had been tainted by a weedkiller used by the neighbour, from whose water-drum the water was drawn, A general warning has gone out that great care should be taken by those using weedkillers and other chemicals to ensure that they don’t get into food, water and cooking utensils, At the same time, agricultural chemicals were reported as having killed thousands of fish in Truk Lagoon in the US Trust Territory and the illnesses of several villagers. TT officials say the cause of the contamination of the lagoon is not yet fully known but samples have been flown to Hono lulu and Manila for close study A strong smell in the area sug gests that powerful agricultural chemicals are responsible.