Irresponsible pesticide use in Colombia leaves one dead, nineteen poisoned

The fire department of Cundinamarca stated that the irresponsible use of a fungicide on a potato crop, in the village of San Rafael, in the municipality of La Calera, near Bogotá, had left a tragic toll of one dead and 19 people intoxicated.

Captain Alvaro Farfan said five people had been taken to a local clinic because they had a high degree of intoxication and that one of them had died. A few hours later, the number of intoxicated people increased and the medical personnel started to experience symptoms of intoxication, so the medical facility had to be evacuated to avoid a mass poisoning and the patients were referred to other clinics in Bogotá.

The director of the Regulatory Center of Emergencies of Cundinamarca, Carlos Arturo Maria Julio said in an interview with Caracol Radio that the emergency had been generated by the misuse of the fungicide, which had not been handled following the appropriate protective measures. Authorities are uncertain as to what fungicide was used. They suspect, it was the ME-8.