MCLC: mass poisoning in kindergarten

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: mass poisoning in kindergarten
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Source: Sinosphere blog, NYT (3/21/14):
http://sinosphere.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/21/two-children-die-in-mass-poi
soning-at-chinese-kindergarten/

Two Children Die in Mass Poisoning at Chinese Kindergarten
By AUSTIN RAMZY

Two children have died after more than 30 were poisoned at a kindergarten
in the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan.

The source of the poison was suspected to have been snacks brought to the
school by a pupil and shared with classmates, the state news agency Xinhua
reported, quoting a Qiubei County government official. Investigators have
yet to say whether they suspect the poisoning was intentional or an
accident.

The children ingested tetramine, a banned rat poison that has turned up in
several deadly incidents in China. The government has tried for years to
stop stores from selling the poison, known in Chinese as dushuqiang, but
it remains widely available.

The children at the kindergarten in Pinglong village began showing signs
of illness on Wednesday afternoon. Two girls, ages 4 and 5, died, and
another seven children remain in serious condition, Xinhua reported.

The private kindergarten had been open just over a year and had not been
officially certified, according to Southern Metropolis Daily, a newspaper.

Last year two students at a kindergarten in Hebei Province died after
eating poisoned yogurt. The police said the yogurt had been laced with
tetramine by the owners of another kindergarten who wanted to discredit
the rival school.

The poisoning comes as China has ordered a national investigation into the
use of antiviral drugs in Chinese schools, amid several cases of
administrators administering the drugs to students without their parents’
knowledge or permission in an effort to improve attendance. Those cases
touched off protests and accusations that the schools were putting
revenues, which would be hurt by student absences, over safety.