Cooking Oil Vessel Source of Poison in Deadly India School Lunch

The source of poison that killed 23 schoolchildren last week in the Indian state of Bihar was the vessel storing cooking oil used to prepare their lunch, an official said, citing a forensic report released July 20.

Monocrotophos, a highly toxic organophosphate insecticide, was found in the oil container, the food and the utensil in which it was cooked, R. Lakshmanan, who runs the mid-day meals program in the state, said in a telephone interview last night. The chemical, which the U.S. stopped using in 1988 according to the website of the Extension Toxicology Network, is produced by at least 15 manufacturers in the world, according to the Pesticide Action Network’s website.