The Ministry of Agriculture and Jeddah Municipality have vowed to track down shops that sell the lethal pesticide aluminum phosphide without a license.
Corrupt traders and weak supervision of lethally toxic pesticides have caused a number of accidental deaths in Jeddah in recent years.
A Palestinian woman and her daughter recently died after they inhaled the toxic fumes used in a nearby apartment last week.
Two Danish children died and their parents were almost fatally poisoned due to the illegal use of the pesticide in 2009.
It was also reported that a Sudanese couple, two Egyptian children, and two Yemeni children were also died because of the indiscriminate use of the pesticide.
Muhammad Adnan, consultant of toxicology at the Poison Center in Jeddah said on an earlier occasion that 40 cases of poisoning come to the center annually. “The municipality sends inspectors on a regular basis to markets to ensure that toxic materials are sold by licensed sellers only,” Sami Nawar, spokesman of Jeddah Municipality, said in a recent statement.
Municipal officials ensure that only licensed traders are allowed to sell aluminum phosphide during inspections. An around-the-clock system to supervise markets has been put in place at every branch municipality and officers at the mayor’s office are available to receive complaints from the public.
A source at the Ministry of Agriculture said aluminum phosphide is listed as a controlled substance that could be manufactured, circulated or used only under direct supervision of authorities.
Ali Al-Asiri, a pharmacist, said inorganic pesticide aluminum phosphide is primarily used as a fumigant against insects and as rat poison in closed areas such as silos, large containers and cargo ships.
Contact with moisture, including ambient humidity, water or any other fluid, makes aluminum phosphide release phosphine gas, which, when inhaled, causes death within a few hours. The compound has no antidote, he said.
The pesticide is marketed in the Kingdom under different brand names, including Hiphos, Agriphos, Celphos57, Primaphos, Alphox, Fumiphos and CDCphos.
Victims who have been subjected to the poisonous substance should be immediately transferred to a place with plenty of fresh air and should receive cardiac massage if they have fall into a state of coma. In addition, victims should be kept warm before they are transferred to a hospital and their breathing should be monitored at 10-minute intervals.
The US Environmental Protection Agency categorizes aluminum phosphide as a “restricted use pesticide” mainly used as an indoor fumigant atcrop transport, storage or processing facilities.
Ministry of Agriculture and Jeddah Municipality to combat illegal sales of aluminum phosphide
