Death of deprived Seville family may have been caused by chemical inhalation. elpais.com.January 20, 2014. Judge says husband, wife and daughter likely died after breathing gas produced by fumigation compound.The judge investigating the deaths of three members of the same family from the small town of Alcalá de Guadaíra, in Seville, says they most likely died from inhaling a gas produced by a chemical fumigating compound. When the bodies of Enrique Caño, 61, his wife Concepción, 50, and their daughter Tamara, 14, were found dead at their home on December 14, it was initially thought they had eaten contaminated fish. The couple’s other daughter, 13-year-old Vanessa, was also taken seriously ill.

But post-mortem examinations of the bodies carried out by the National Toxicology Institute suggest the presence of aluminum phosphate, a gas produced when fumigation compounds come into contact with water or damp air. So far, the Andalusia regional High Court has yet to officially confirm the suspicion.
Aluminum phosphate is a chemical compound used by farmers as a pesticide. It is typically sold in tablet and compound form in packets or bottles. When it comes into contact with water or humid air, it releases a toxic gas called phosphine. Inhaled in large doses, and without immediate treatment, the chance of death is between 70 and 100 percent.
The initial symptoms are nausea, vomiting, stomach pains, and diarrhea. The three victims all presented similar symptoms when they were taken to hospital, leading doctors to believe that they were suffering from gastroenteritis caused by eating contaminated food.
The story made headlines around Europe as a symbol of Spain’s ongoing crisis after Spanish media reported that the family had no income, and was living on out-of-date food after Caño lost his job as a plumber two years ago. Their house was seized by the bank, but they continued to live in the property as de facto squatters. Caño was reportedly a regular visitor to food stores at closing time, joining other unemployed locals in taking expired products from staff. He also earned money by collecting and selling secondhand clothes.
But when the family’s 13-year-old daughter Vanesa recovered from her illness, medics and police began to pursue other lines of investigation. Vanesa had eaten with her family, and then gone out with friends. When she returned, she found her mother, father, and sister already unconscious.
The police say that death from phosphine inhalation is just one of a number of “lines of investigation” but admit it is “the most probable hypothesis.” The authorities have yet to establish how the family might have been exposed to phosphine. Investigators say it is unlikely that the meal the family ate was contaminated by the gas. The most likely cause of death would be from inhalation.
So far, no bottles or packets used to store aluminum phosphate have been found in the family’s home. But police say they have found several bags in the bathroom containing plastic bottle tops that Caño collected from shops and factories, with the intention of selling them for recycling. One of the bags contained “many” bottle tops compatible with a type of bottle used to store aluminum phosphate.
Investigators say it is possible there were traces of the compound in the bottle tops, and that given the damp conditions in the bathroom, they released phosphine. “If the family didn’t know what they had in the house, and the symptoms could be confused with stomach poisoning, then they were doomed from the moment they breathed the fumes in,” says a judicial source.
Extended family members are now considering legal action against the regional health service. They say Vanesa called paramedics immediately, but despite the parents and children being violently ill, the decision was made not to take them to hospital. Again, media reporting put this decision in the context of cuts to health spending caused by the crisis.
Read more in Spanish artícle.________________________________________________________________________________________
Read also: Two toddlers die after Jerusalem home sprayed for pests. By Ido Efrati and Nir Hasson. haaretz.com. January 22, 2014.Family of six collapses after extermination; pesticide used releases a poisonous gas, phosphine, which requires evacuation for at least 10 days. Two young girls died on Wednesday after their family’s Jerusalem apartment was sprayed for pest control. Their two older brothers were hospitalized in very serious condition and their parents were in good condition.
The entire building was evacuated, and will remain empty for at least another day. Police detained the exterminator for questioning.
At 11 A.M. Wednesday a Magen David Adom ambulance was dispatched to an apartment on Hashahal Street in the capital. The responders found the six members of the Gross family in states ranging from woozy to unconscious: the parents, both in their thirties; the two boys, aged 5 and 7; and two girls, one, Abigail, aged 4 years, the other, Yael, 18 months. After determining that the family appeared to have been poisoned by pesticides that were sprayed in the home on Monday, Magen David Adom officials contacted police and the Environmental Protection Ministry’s hazardous materials unit.
The two girls died soon afterward. All six family members were taken to the nearby Shaare Zedek Medical Center, but the boys were later transferred to Schneider Children’s Medical Center in Petah Tikva. As of Tuesday night they remained in serious to critical condition, sedated and on respirators.
Tablets of Phostoxin – a brand name for aluminum phosphide, a pesticide that releases a poisonous gas, phosphine, when exposed to moisture – were found in the apartment. The tablets have been sent for laboratory testing.
According to Eli Lugassi, a manager with Israel’s Pest Control Operators Association, such a gas requires all residents remain outside the home for at least 10 days after, and may only be used in private homes that are isolated.
Aluminum phosphide is primarily used as an agricultural pesticide. Dr. Elihu Richter of Jerusalem’s Hadassah University Hospital, an expert on poisons, said that phosphine gas attacks the central nervous system, much as military nerve gases do. It can be absorbed either by inhalation or through the skin. The Environmental Protection Ministry, which supervises pesticides, said the substance used in the apartment has been approved in principle for home use, but only in smaller quantities and at lower concentrations than are permissible for agricultural use. It is now examining whether the exterminator used the substance properly.
The extermination took place on Monday. According to the parents, the exterminator sealed the room he sprayed to prevent the material from going into the other rooms. But on Tuesday, one of the girls began to feel ill and started throwing up. Her parents took her to a clinic, but she was released with no real treatment. On Wednesday morning, her situation worsened sharply, as did that of her three siblings.
“We came to the apartment and found a girl of about 2 who wasn’t breathing,” related paramedic Yisrael Cohen. “As we were trying to resuscitate her, they told us there were another three children who didn’t feel well, and they told us about the extermination. We found the children in various states of consciousness, from fully conscious to inert, and they were sent to the hospital in a single ambulance. We took the girl while still trying to resuscitate her.
“En route, we tried to understand what substance had been used, because there weren’t any recognizable signs of organic phosphates. Moreover, in contrast to other substances with which we’re familiar, the children continued getting worse en route to the hospital and even after we arrived. That’s not behavior we’re familiar with.”
After the family had been evacuated, firefighters arrived and evacuated everyone from the apartment building, as well as from the school next door. They then worked to get rid of the pesticide.