"Hundreds" of people have fallen victim to an insecticide poisoning in Bangladesh after it launched a drive to tackle dengue fever which has killed 56 people so far, a report said Saturday.
The Daily Star newspaper, quoting unidentified sources, said "insecticide poisoning has caused serious health problems among hundreds of spray men of the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC)."
These men, taking part in an anti-mosquito drive to fight the spread of dengue fever, sprayed 30,000 litres (7,800 gallons) of insecticide during the past few weeks and were exposed to ICON 2.5, a residual insecticide classified as "highly hazardous" for humans, it said.
Officials of the DCC reportedly said most of these men fell sick, with many complaining of chest pains, and suffering vomiting and coughs.
DCC stopped the use of ICON 2.5 spray after getting similar health complaints from the paramilitary Bangladesh Rifles headquarters here and a school, it said.
DCC officials were not avaiulable for comment Saturday, the weekend holiday in Bangladesh, but its chief health officer Mohammad Ashraf Uddin admitted to the newspaper that it had "some side effects."
"There may be some irritation and burning if humans are directly exposed to the insecticide, but there is no harm in spraying it with fogging machines," as used by the DCC, he said -- DHAKA(AFP)
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