A “Health” investigation into the death of a citizen due to pesticides being sprayed in her home!

The Press Office of the Ministry of Public Health issued the following statement: “The Ministry of Public Health has completed the medical and scientific investigation to determine the causes of death of the NK citizen after for her to bring in the Canadian Lebanon Foundation to explode poisons in her home, noting that the judges have been examining the file since the death occurred at the same time as several other people who ‘ suffered suffocation and poisoning as a result of the pesticide spraying operation. ”

He said, “According to the medical and scientific investigation carried out by the Ministry, the results of the blood tests showed that there were residues of propanol (Butoxymethylethoxy) methylethoxy, which is a solvent of poisons, which proves that the person suffer open. to poisons.”

The statement said, “After the investigation, it became clear that according to the statements of the owner of the establishment after he was called, he treated a house on the upper floor with aluminum phosphide gas, and treated the house of the NK citizen on the ground floor from the outside with five percent Deltamethrin. “

He continued, “Accordingly, based on the medical reports and examinations of the deceased and toxicology examination of the blood sample of the deceased and the aluminum phosphide pesticide used and its licensing and import documents , as well as the percentage of Deltamethrin allowed. used in accordance with the relevant laws, the investigation committee, consisting of medical experts, came to the conclusion… Toxins, poisons and laboratories on the following:
According to the World Health Organization and the US Environmental Protection Agency, the pesticide aluminum phosphide falls under the first category of poisoning. where it seems to have spread from the upper floor to the Citizen Apartment N. Kh. In the basement.
– The symptoms suffered by Citizen N.. Kh. Similar to the symptoms that appear in severe poisoning with phosphine gas released from aluminum phosphide.
– The packaging shown by the company they used clearly shows the instructions about it warning about the danger of pesticides and specifying the use of aluminum phosphide to eliminate warehouse insects and rodents in the field, while the spray company spread the plaques throughout the house. before disposing of them, despite the fact that the instructions on the package are clear about not allowing the material to be used inside homes or in enclosed residential areas where people live. (A photo of the packaging used is attached)
– The institution used aluminum phosphide in accordance with the approval decision to use agricultural medicines dated 8/24/2015 from the Ministry of Agriculture and used it in an unexpected destination in a public building.
It is also noted that the owner of the institution announced that he had treated the home of Citizen N. Kh. On the ground floor with five percent Deltamethrin, which is higher than the percentage allowed in Resolution 290/1, which amounts to two and a half percent.
It is worth noting that the Ministry of Public Health had issued a written warning to the institution on the eighteenth of April last year for non-compliance with licensing conditions and for selling, filling and packaging the company’s products without prior authorization (linked). Since the death occurred last July, the Ministry has suspended the institution from work as a precaution, pending the publication of the results of the investigation. ”

He confirmed, “As a result of all the above, the Ministry of Public Health decided to send the entire file of the Lebanese Canadian Foundation for the Control of Household Insects and Worms to the judges to expand the investigation and measures to take a legal decision. The Ministry has also decided to withdraw all licenses from the Foundation related to the authorization of spraying and sales.” used for agricultural use by companies that practice the profession of spraying household insecticides and acaricides in homes and public places in Lebanon, and both articles were added to products prohibited from being introduced by the Ministry of Public Health, as long as there is no violation of the content The decision brings the perpetrators to the penalties specified in the laws appropriate The Ministry of Public Health sent a letter to the Ministry of Agriculture to advise import companies dealing in the profession of using agricultural medicines without using them for non-agricultural purposes. “There are dangers that could cause death.”

The statement concluded, “The Ministry of Public Health requires all companies that have obtained licenses to practice the profession of importing, selling, a ‘ packing, packaging, preparing, making and spraying insecticides and aphids in homes, and complying with the decisions made. by the Ministry of Public Health by using approved and approved products and adopting the necessary safety guidelines, under penalty of legal accountability.”