Over a hundred schoolgirls passed out at their campus in Jhelum on Saturday after suspected exposure to insecticides, just two days after a similar incident took place at a school in Attock.At least 105 girls at Government High School Domeli in Sohawa tehsil fainted after the school administration opened the classrooms without taking precautionary measures. The school had been fumigated on Friday. Students entering classes suffered breathing problems and more than 105 fell unconscious. The incident took place just two days after similar spraying at the Government Girls High School in Jand, Attock led to nearly 100 girls being affected by the chemicals used. Around 10 to 20 of the victims had to be admitted to the local hospital, where insufficient facilities made matters worse. Again, the girls had difficulty breathing and complained of a burning sensation on the skin and inside their throats. Provincial Education Minister Rana Mashood has said that strict instructions had been given about spraying after the Jand incident, but it seems these were ignored. The Punjab chief minister has suspended the DCOs and EDOs of Jhelum and Jand. The chief minister has also ordered the spray samples from both schools to be tested. According to reports, the Jhelum school’s principal, two security guards, and two other persons have also been rounded up. The girls felt dizzy and fainted due to the high levels of exposure to the pesticide and experienced severe respiratory problems and disorientation at the hospital later. Health effects of pesticides can cause both acute and chronic problems and should on no accounts be taken lightly. Acute health effects appear shortly after exposure to these pesticides and can cause headaches, dizziness and disorientation as was witnessed in these cases and in severe exposure incidences, death. Chronic health effects may not be apparent until months or years after exposure. Such health aliments include nervous, reproductive, and immune system disorders, and cancer. The intensity of the incidents suggests the spraying was carried out in a dangerous fashion and whatever chemicals used seemed to have been far too potent for humans to have been exposed to in this fashion. It was clearly unsafe to spray classrooms or other school premises while pupils were present there. In the past too, residents of Lahore localities have complained of eye irritations and other problems after dengue fumigation in their areas. This is a matter that cannot be taken lightly. The priority must be to protect people and carry out spraying either when schools are closed or at least ask pupils, teachers or the residents of areas where spraying is scheduled to leave their homes for the required period of time. We need to know why this is not happening. It is also peculiar that both incidents took place at schools for girls. It is unclear why this should happen. We hope a full investigation will be conducted and that there will be no repetition of the kind of panic and physical pain created by this careless bout of fumigation spraying. The government should take precautions not to spray at times during the day when people are out and about. Such negligence by authorities responsible for administering the spray is just not acceptable.
pk.shafaqna.com
