40 villagers poisoned by contaminated water.

[Anchor Moy]

Contaminated water is being blamed for poisoning more than 40 villagers in Battambang province’s Samlot district, according to police...

He added that villagers were drinking water from a nearby creek that flowed through a rice field that had recently been sprayed with pesticides, causing dizziness and vomiting.

“The villagers took the water that flowed from the rice field where they just sprayed the pesticide to kill the grass. They took it to use without boiling it. So we concluded they got water poisoning,” he said...

http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/24721/ ... attambang/
Makes you want to eat the rice.
Does boiling the water, or the rice for that matter, really get rid of the pesticides ?

[prahkeitouj]

Hmmm

Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF300T using Tapatalk

[ot mien kampf]

Contaminated water is being blamed for poisoning more than 40 villagers in Battambang province’s Samlot district, according to police...

He added that villagers were drinking water from a nearby creek that flowed through a rice field that had recently been sprayed with pesticides, causing dizziness and vomiting.

“The villagers took the water that flowed from the rice field where they just sprayed the pesticide to kill the grass. They took it to use without boiling it. So we concluded they got water poisoning,” he said...

http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/24721/ ... attambang/
Makes you want to eat the rice.
Does boiling the water, or the rice for that matter, really get rid of the pesticides ?

Broadly, no.

The boiling of water idea is (obviously) for pathogens because they tend to be cellular and therefore contain water themselves. Heat 'em and they die.

Heat pesticides dissolved into the water and you could just create a poisonous precipitate or gas. Typically they use brine to extract dissolved ions, and then insanely engineered systems of oxidation, distillation, filtration etc. to remove oils, solvents and pesticides. Drinkable tap water requires a hell of a lot of infrastructure to produce, hence why you can't drink it even in places like Thailand.

You can bet that the bottled water isn't up to Western tap standards either.

[mammothboy2]

In Cambodia, EAU KULEN (at least) is certified as being up to European standards and still employs
expensive Europeans to check and keep checking.

The water-bottling plant is occasionally open to visitors

[Duncan]

Contaminated water is being blamed for poisoning more than 40 villagers in Battambang province’s Samlot district, according to police...

He added that villagers were drinking water from a nearby creek that flowed through a rice field that had recently been sprayed with pesticides, causing dizziness and vomiting.

“The villagers took the water that flowed from the rice field where they just sprayed the pesticide to kill the grass. They took it to use without boiling it. So we concluded they got water poisoning,” he said...

http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/24721/ ... attambang/
Makes you want to eat the rice.
Does boiling the water, or the rice for that matter, really get rid of the pesticides ?

Broadly, no.

The boiling of water idea is (obviously) for pathogens because they tend to be cellular and therefore contain water themselves. Heat 'em and they die.

Heat pesticides dissolved into the water and you could just create a poisonous precipitate or gas.

Typically they use brine to extract dissolved ions, and then insanely engineered systems of oxidation, distillation, filtration etc. to remove oils, solvents and pesticides. Drinkable tap water requires a hell of a lot of infrastructure to produce, hence why you can't drink it even in places like Thailand.

You can bet that the bottled water isn't up to Western tap standards either.

This depends on the temperature that those pesticides change into a gas , which is usually a lot higher than that which is required to turn water into steam in a water distiller.

[Anchor Moy]

Mr. Sunkaing added that he and Defense Ministry officials went to distribute clean water after the poisoning, ordering local authorities to check on their health and educate the villagers on safe water and food consumption.

“Almost all villagers did not boil the water before drinking it, so we decided to bring them clean water,” he said.

“They did not boil the water, and that’s why they got poisoned after they drank it.

http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/24721/ ... attambang/

I was wondering if this advice or "education" was of any use ? Will boiling their pesticide-filled water avoid future poisoning ?

Wouldn't it be more productive to "educate" the rice growers about dangers of pesticides ? Not to mention laws on pesticides near drinking water ? (I know, I know. Voices raving on into the void.)

[Fourkinnel]

I'd be wary of the rice too. I'm not sure about when its still growing in the water but when dried absorbs everything around inc poisons. Always clean it well with filtered water before cooking. And don't cook it in tap water!

[Kuroneko]

I am sure that there has been a public health initiative fairly recently concerning the danger of pesticides, however can't seem to find the report. Meanwhile an article from 2002 Death in small doses – Cambodia’s pesticide peril

....Consequently, inappropriate practice is rife. UN medical epidemiologist Helen Murphy says of Cambodia, ‘I have never seen such hazardous pesticides used in any country in such a hazardous fashion’.

Pesticides are used at the wrong time, in the wrong strength, and against the wrong pests. Products are often mixed, creating more dangerous chemical cocktails. Furthermore, the majority of users fail to protect themselves from the powerful compounds, exposing themselves to direct poisoning by inhalation or skin contact. Gloves, masks and other protective clothing are virtually absent, being prohibitively expensive and impractical in the Cambodian heat. Consequently, farmers are routinely poisoned. Nearly 90% of pesticide-using Cambodian farmers recently surveyed by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) had experienced symptoms of pesticide poisoning during or after spraying. These included chest pains, night sweats, dizziness, vomiting (35%), and loss of consciousness.
Mr San Kim Chhay, another farmer in Prek Lavea suffers from chronic joint pain, dizziness and skin complaints during the spraying season. In spite of associating these symptoms with pesticide use, he says, ‘Sometimes my ten year old son does the spraying.’ Such exposure of children to agrochemicals is widespread – about half of Cambodian farmers allow their children to spray crops.
Only 7% of respondents in the FAO survey changed their clothes after spraying and one half did not wash their hands. Worryingly, in a different study in 2000, 51% of farmers mixed pesticides in drinking water containers.
Given that the pesticides most commonly used are known to be capable of disrupting nervous system function, inducing cancer or killing outright, Cambodia faces a public health disaster on a grand scale. It is ironic then that the Khmer translation of ‘pesticide’ includes the word ‘thnam’, meaning medicine. http://www.pan-uk.org/pestnews/Issue/pn56/pn56p6.htm

[pzl]

We are not quite sure of the causes.

What we know:

Two most common pesticides being use in Cambodia are: permethrin and fibronil.

Most of those effects are women.

[Borum-Ex frm TOForum]

We are not quite sure of the causes.

What we know:

Two most common pesticides being use in Cambodia are: permethrin and fibronil.

Most of those effects are women.

Time to turn gay! No offence mate, should’ve been “affected” , i make a lot of mistakes myself as well, since i ain’t a native speaker either!