Paraquat poisoning kills 1,000 every year

The
fatality rate after ingesting just 5ml of the chemical is 90 percent, doctors
said.

Every
year, about 1,000 people die of paraquat poisoning across the country.

Nguyen
Trung Nguyen, head of the Poison Control Centre of Bach Mai
Hospital, said the number of paraquat poisoning cases in 2015 at Bach Mai
Hospital was 300, with the figure rising to 500 last year.

Most
patients drank the chemical to commit suicide, Nguyen said.

The
herbicide is quick-acting and non-selective, killing green plant tissue on
contact.

He said
patients can only be saved if poisoned by small doses of up to three
millilitres.

But
treatment is expensive, requiring blood filtration sessions costing up to 100
million VND (4,400 USD), and the chances of survival are still slim, he said.

“Many people regret taking the herbicide after being hospitalised and receiving
treatment. But what’s painful about this is that there’s no way they can go
back – because most of them die,” he said.

“Most of
them will die within three days to three months, however intensively they are
treated. Paraquat is absorbed quickly, within two to six hours, and it caused
severe damage to the heart, lungs and liver,” Nguyen said.

Patients
may feel better after receiving treatment, but are dying inside because of
tissue that has been damaged.

“Dying
because of paraquat poisoning is scarier than other ways as the patients are
awake and conscious until they die,” Nguyen said.

Paraquat, a chemical weed killer, and 2,4-D, an
organic compound, are used to control a broad range of weeds, but leave
cereals, lawn turf, and grasslands relatively unaffected.

2,4-D paraquat can be found in many commercial lawn herbicide mixtures, and is
widely used as a weed killer for cereal crops, pastures, and orchards. More
than 1,500 herbicide products contain 2,4-D as an active ingredient.

Breathing in Paraquat can cause lung damage and lead to a disease called
Paraquat lung. Paraquat damages the body when it touches the lining of the
mouth, stomach, or intestines.

Long-term exposure to Paraquat may cause scarring
of the lungs called pulmonary fibrosis.

On February 8, the Ministry of Agriculture and
Rural Development issued a decree prohibiting the use of plant protection
products containing paraquat and 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) in
Vietnam, after years of scientists repeatedly warning about its danger.

The
ministry still allows the trade and use of the products for two years starting
from when the ban became effective.

“We made
the transition time two years so that enterprises can gradually eliminate these
products,” said Hoang Trung, head of the Plant Protection Department under the
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Regarding this, doctor Nguyen from Bach Mai Hospital said he wonders if the
buffer time is necessary.

“The sooner we ban this herbicide, the more people
we can be saved,” he said.-VNA