By Charles Gladden
ORANGE WALK, Wed. June 1, 2022
A two-year-old baby girl from San Felipe Village, Orange Walk District, is being treated at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital after she swallowed a pesticide that is intended for agricultural use but that was being used in her home to kill rats.
The child’s mother, Noemi Santos, 33, a San Felipe resident, told police that on Tuesday night, May 31, at about 7:00 p.m., her husband, Orlando Santos, 42, placed pieces of bread soaked in Lannate pesticide on top of the headboard of their bed in order to kill any rats in their home.
A few moments later, their two-year-old daughter, Melanie Santos, was seen eating the pieces of bread left for the rats. Orange Walk police reportedly received a call shortly after (presumably from the alarmed parents) that notified them that a female had ingested poison and was experiencing convulsions.
The child was rushed to the Northern Regional Hospital and then to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, where her condition is listed as critical but stable.
In an interview with 7News, Miriam Serrut, Registrar of Pesticides at the Pesticides Control Board (PCB), indicated that Lannate is one of the deadlier agricultural pesticides and is not intended for domestic use.
“… It is a serious issue that concerns us a lot that pesticide retailers are recommending pesticides that are intended for agricultural use; they’re recommending it for other uses. That practice has got to stop …. Pesticides are poisons. And Lannate, for example, contains an active ingredient called Methomyl. Methomyl is highly hazardous—all these formulations, they belong to the higher level of hazard. They present the highest level of hazard, especially, well in the case of Methomyl, which is the active ingredient of Lannate. The lethal dose for that is 358 milligrams per kilo of body weight. So it becomes even more critical if we’re talking about a child, because it’s less body weight.”
Serrut also indicated that, fortunately, there is an antidote that can counter the effects of Lannate. It is known as atropine, and this is presumably what’s being used to treat the child at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital.
Police are investigating.