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American Journal of Epidemiology Vol. 106, No. 2: 145-153
Copyright © 1977 by The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health

other

FATAL PARATHION POISONING CAUSED BY CONTAMINATION OF FLOUR IN INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE1

H. J. PETER DIGGORY2, PHILIP J. LANDRIGAN3, KENNETH P. LATIMER2, A. C. ELLINGTON4, RENATE D. KIMBROUGH5, JOHN A. LIDDLE5, RICHARD E. CLINE5 and ANN L. SMREK5

2Carribean Epidemiology Centre Port of Spain, Trinidad, West Indies
3Environmental Hazards Activity; Cancer and Birth Defects Division, Bureau of Epidemiology, Center for Disease Control Atlanta
4Ministry of Health and Environmental Control, Government of Jamaica Kingston
5Toxicology Branch, Clinical Chemistry Division, Bureau of Laboratories, Center for Disease Control Atlanta

1Caribbean Epidemiology Centre, Post Office Box 164, Port of Spain, Trinidad, West Indies; the Center for Disease Control, 1600 Clifton Road, Atlanta, GA 30333; and the Ministry of Health and Environmental Control, Government of Jamaica, Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies.

Diggory, H. J. P., P. J. Landrigan (CDC, Atlanta, GA 30333), K. P. Latimer, A. C. Ellington, R. D. Kimbrough, J. A. Liddle, R. E. Cline and A. L. Smrek. Fatal parathlon poisoning caused by contamination of flour in international commerce. Am J Epidemiol 106:145–153, 1977.

In January 1976, 79 persons in Jamaica were acutely poisoned by the organophosphorus insecticide parathion. Seventeen died. Cases occurred in three episodes at separate locations, but all patients had consumed wheat flour from a single lot consisting of 5264 cotton bags. Parathion in concentrations of <1 to 9900 ppm was identified in flour from six bags in this lot; three had splash marks. The flour had been milled in Western Europe from European wheat, carried in trucks to a dockside warehouse, and loaded aboard ship after 2–5 days' storage. In Jamaica, the flour had moved from quayside to outbreak locations along separate routes through two import houses. Site inspections and review of shipping records suggested that the likely point of contamination was the European port, where foodstuffs and insecticides were stored in the same warehouse.

food contamination; insecticides; outbreaks; parathion; poisoning


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