Research reveals alarming pesticide poisoning statistics

PESTICIDES were responsible for the majority of poisoning deaths in children and adults over a two-year period nationally, research has found.

- NICOLA DANIELS

The data published in the South African Medical Research Journal (SAMJ) detailed how researchers collected data from postmortem folders from a sample of non-natural/injury deaths from 65 mortuaries in eight provinces and from the Western Cape provincial health department for all injury deaths electronically and routinely captured from 16 mortuaries.

The research came after a rise in foodborne illnesses and related child deaths last year, where a total of 890 incidents were recorded, and 22 children died after eating contaminated food, reportedly purchased at informal spaza shops and street vendors.

After scientific testing, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases found that the deaths of six children in Naledi, Soweto, could be attributed to a pesticide known as terbufos.

To understand the extent of the problem, researchers used nationally representative surveys from 2017 and 2020/21 to analyse poisoning deaths.