nature |
9 August 1990 Vol. 346 Issue no. 6284
CORRESPONDENCE
Mass poisoning
S1R—Slack et al. (Nature 345, 583; 1990), writing about mass-poisoning between May 1981 and March 1983 in the Madrid area of Spain, apparently involving aniline-degraded, reprocessed rapeseed oil as the causative agent, state that the events, reported to be lethal to 340 of more than 20,000 affected individuals, “probably represent the worst recorded | outbreak of food-borne chemical intoxication ever documented.” However, an event in the winter of 1971-72 in Iraq, involving a methylmercury fungicide present on wheat used for bread baking, was reported lethal to some 459 individuals'’. Some 6,500 people were reported to have been hospitalized among a much larger number intoxicated.
Rosert A. MICHAELS RAM TRAC Corporation, 91 Northumberland Drive, Schenectady, New York 12309, USA 1. Bakir, F., et al. Science 181, 230-41 (1973). 2. Marsh, D.O. in The Toxicity of Methyl Mercury (C. U. Eccles and Z. Annau, editors). Baltimore and London. Johns Hop-
kins Series in Environmental Toxicology. pp.45-53. 1987
Publication citation
Michaels, RA. Mass poisoning. Nature (London):346:505 (letter), 9 August 1990;