The Perak government, concerned over the rising number of poisoning cases, has advised the people particularly farmers to adopt safety measures when handing the weedkiller paraquat.
State Health, Local Government and Environment Committee chairman Datuk Dr Mah Hang Soon said 567 cases of poisoning were reported over the past three years, and added that the figure was quite high.
“Paraquat was banned in 2002 but the prohibition was lifted in 2006,” he told reporters today.
Most of the paraquat poisoning cases reported involved suicide attempts or drinking the herbicide by mistake, he said.    Dr Mah said statistics indicated that 1,442 paraquat poisoning cases were reported between 1978 and 1985 and 1,586 cases between 1986 and 1990.
He also said that 68.4 per cent of the paraquat poisoning cases involved Indians.
On dengue, Dr Mah said 848 cases with two deaths were reported in the Kuala Kangsar district in the week ending Sept 3.
However, he added, this was a drop of 47.8 per cent compared to the corresponding last year when 1,626 cases with five deaths were recorded.
– Bernama
– Photo taken from: Scienceblogs.com
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