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View Full Version : Did gas cause the Pueblo Viejo poisoning?



NewsWhore
03-16-2010, 08:00 PM
The Senate has asked that the Ministry of Public Health, Center for Emergency Operations, Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Industry and Commerce investigate further into the Barrick Gold intoxication case.
News services have been speculating that a toxic gas escape could have been the source of the problem, rather than food poisoning. On the Diario de la Manana, z101fm.com, mining expert, Osiris de Leon said that reports he has had from people in the province lead him to believe the company has sought to minimize the incident. He said that many who went to work on Monday also suffered symptoms of the poisoning. The symptoms do not correspond to food intoxication, he said. He said it is more likely that there was a gas that was accidentally leaked and this would explain why so many people had irritation in their eyes.
Stomach bacteria do not produce effect on the eyes, nor would it have been necessary for Barrick Gold employees to use nose masks as these were seen wearing yesterday. "It is clear there was a gas," said de Leon.
He substantiates the belief on grounds that employees that arrived to work on Monday also had to be hospitalized, after suffering from the toxic effects still in the environs.
"People that did not eat the meal that Barrick Gold says was the cause affected the workers and had to be hospitalized," he told listeners of the Gobierno de la Manana talk show.
A Dominican who identified himself as a company worker called the program and said that 1,028 persons were intoxicated. He said the affected Dominicans were placed in quarantine at an area known as Los Tres Mil Hombres. He said many of the Peruvians that became ill would be sent back to their own country. The caller attributed the cause of the poisoning to sulphur gas.

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