COTABATO CITY—Mayor Ma. Rona Cristina Flores of Upi, Maguindanao del Norte, suspended classes on Thursday and Friday at Mirab Elementary School where over 200 students had fallen ill on Wednesday due to exposure to insecticide.
The class suspension, according to her, would give time for decontamination of the school premises, upon advice of the Integrated Provincial Health Office (Ipho) of Maguindanao and the Rural Health Unit of the town.
“I want to ensure the safety and well-being of our school children and teachers,” Flores said.
The children, she said, were exposed to Vindex, an insecticide sprayed on coconut trees grown near the school compound.
On Wednesday morning, 81 children from Grades 1 to 6 were taken to the Datu Blah Sinsuat District Hospital (DBSDH) for treatment while another 130 were confined for observation at the municipal health station after they complained of headache, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and muscle stiffness.
DBSDH, in a statement, said the children were still under observation as directed by the Philippine General Hospital Poison Management and Control Center.
Vindex is among the insecticide brands registered with the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority (FPA). It is applied to corn, rice, sorghum, tobacco, crucifers and citrus crops.
With phenthoate as its active ingredient, the chemical’s toxicity is Category 2, which means it must carry a warning of being “harmful.”
Preventive measure
Information gathered by Ipho showed that the teachers and students smelled “a sweet scent all over the school” around 8 a.m., then the children began to feel sick.
Flores said a farmer was last seen spraying chemicals onto the coconut trees and the mist could have been carried by the wind toward the nearby school.
Flores said a municipal executive order is being prepared to prevent spraying of chemicals near schools during class hours.
She had tasked the Mirab village council, municipal epidemiology surveillance unit and municipal disaster risk reduction and management office to do a “reorientation on health education regarding the use of chemical products in farming.”
“This is to avoid similar incidents in the future,” she said.