On The Third Hand

Via CNN

Nearly 30 elementary school children in the Philippines have died after eating fried cassava balls obtained from a vendor, a spokesman for the local mayor told CNN.

Fourteen children died Wednesday before reaching hospitals and 13 died upon arrival, the spokesman for Mabini Mayor Eutiquio Bernales said.

Two more children also have died, but it was not clear when. Thirty-five more are in critical condition.

Fried cassava is a very common snack here and must admit I never associated it with the possibility of causing a death. As the article points out Cassava contains amino acid-derived cyanogenic glucosides and must be thoroughly cooked to remove toxic levels. If eaten raw, the digestive system will convert part of it into cyanide. Two cassava roots contain enough to be fatal.

To prove their is some justice, and stupidity, in the world the vendor who sold the cassava balls insisted nothing was wrong with them and ate a few to prove the point. Now she, too, is in critical condition.

Far be it from me to wish ill will on anyone but, as they say, “what goes around - comes around.”

UPDATE: (08:48am (Mla time) Mar 10, 2005) Via Philippine Daily Inquirer:

A TEAM of government doctors has flown to Bohol province on Thursday to investigate the food poisoning incident in Mabini town that has killed close to 30 school children.

Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit said the composite team from the Department of Health and the University of the Philippines’ Toxicology Department is expected to give its initial findings Thursday evening.

“They will determine the true cause of the poisoning,” Dayrit said in a phone interview. “We will have a clearer picture tonight.”

The local Dept. of Health is looking at two possible scenarios, first the aforementioned possibility the the cassava was served undercooked. Secondly that pesticides had seeped into the cassava.

Currently the official death toll is at 27. The condition of the over 50 others that are still in various hospitals is “stable and improving.”

Cross posted within the Cranial Cavity