Rat poison 14 dead after mass sterilization

Rat Poison Traces: 14 women die after mass sterilization

17/11/2014

In India, at least 14 women have died after mass sterilization. The cause suspected to be poisoned drugs. The funds are said to have contained a substance that is also used in rat poison.

Medicines contained substance used for rat poison
At least 14 women have died in India after mass sterilization. As the news agency dpa reports, this was probably due to poisoned drugs. Presumably, the drugs that were given to the post-intervention women contain zinc phosphide, state authorities in Chhattisgarh said Saturday. Normally, the zinc-phosphorus compound (Zn3P2) is used to produce rat and mouse venom.

Treating doctor was arrested
According to media reports, 20 women are still receiving intensive medical care. Alok Shukla from the state health department explained: „The symptoms that the women showed are those that usually occur after consuming zinc phosphide, which is commonly used in rodenticides.“ According to a doctor who had already been arrested, on 8 November in a hospital in Bilaspur 83 women had severed the fallopian tubes. In the following days, almost all of them complained of pain, nausea and fever.

Sterilization is the most common method of contraception in India
In addition to the physician, the owner of the drug factory Mahawar Pharma and his son had been arrested. It is reported that "the drugs, an antibiotic and a painkiller were sent to government laboratories for chemical analysis". According to news agency Press Trust of India, "all the company's products have been removed from the market, and as with many other parts of the subcontinent, Chhattisgarh has numerous sterilization camps every year." It is by far the most common contraceptive method in India. In most other countries around the world, birth control pills and the use of condoms are likely to be the most commonly used methods of contraception. (Ad)

Picture: Reinhold Kiss