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General News    H4'ed 2/19/11

Death in a Bottle for a Handful of Haitian Coins

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Thimothe said, "The Minister of Justice and Commerce will launch an investigation." Criminal prosecution was not in the mandate of the MSPP, nor was it in their job description to level accusations of malfeasance.

Did he know of any possible sources for the methanol? 

Thimothe said it "could have been imported as an industrial solvent," but he was waiting for direction from the Justice Minister to "face this challenge." 

So far, there had been fifteen victims, he said, including twelve in Fond Baptiste. Our tally had 12-15 in Fond Baptiste, 3 in Luly, and 2 in Williamson. The count was inconsistent, and as of this writing there are at least seven more victims. Our count agrees with that of Le Nouvelliste, and is certainly more than 20 victims.

Still, Thimothe felt MSPP was doing all they could, given their mandate. The Monday after the first cases were reported in Fond Baptiste, doctors and nurses were in the village, he said. Three days later they visited the markets in Williamson and Cabaret, but not Montrouis. 

Thimothe told us the drinking in Fond Baptiste was due to a "voodoo" ceremony--he did not use the correct term "Vodun"--and seemed surprised when we told him that patient zero was a 45 year old woman, and that people had gotten sick at her funeral. 

He promised us that his secretary, who was busy at the time, would email us his "press release" on the poisoning and also forward lab results. That was a week ago. 

At this point, fingers are pointing everywhere, but the poisonings are continuing. Hopefully, this account will offer insight into what Haitians face in matters of health and safety. In the first world, entire industries are shut down if someone eats a tainted egg.

For Haitians death can be in a bottle, and death is in the water. For them, there is not a safe drop to drink.

  

Note: I ran the medical aspects of this narrative past an American physician who has worked in Haiti. He offered the following: "Also, it should probably be pointed out that SOMEONE needs to educate the public that the practice of sedating babies with Clairin is extremely dangerous. At 190 proof, .2 oz is toxic and 2 oz potentially lethal in a 15 kg (34 pound) toddler. Half that is toxic in a 15 pound baby." 

Also posted at LAProgressive 

 

 

 

 

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Georgianne Nienaber is an investigative environmental and political writer. She lives in rural northern Minnesota and South Florida. Her articles have appeared in The Society of Professional Journalists' Online Quill Magazine, the Huffington (more...)
 

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