60 Minutes believes it knows what killed New Zealander

[len]

Traces of chlorpyrifos - found 3 months after Sarah Carter's death and after the hotel room was cleaned - suggested the concentration was high.

Five people died from unexplained causes in Chiang Mai over a 16-day period after New Year. Four stayed at the Downtown Inn Hotel. A UN scientist, Ron McDowall, said there was a strong likelihood Carter died from excessive exposure to the substance, which causes identical symptoms to those suffered by the trio as well as several other tourists who died after staying at the hotel.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/2 ... d-in-hotel

[dutchboy]

That's Thailand for you. Things long banned in "normal" countries are still legal here.

They will only become illegal if they kill some important Thai politician/militair/police/PAD person or family member of this person.

These tragic deaths in Chiang Mai, where the outcome offers no reconciliation whatsoever to the victims families, is only the last step of Thailand to make the country more and more unattractive for foreign tourists.

The next step will undoubtable be the unrest after the July elections.

[len]

Mates, this report from Thai authorities says an autopsy found no traces of toxins in their bodies! Round and round we go?


http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/2 ... tle-weight

[dutchboy]

Well, that's Thai-ness for you.

Never accept responsibility, always point at somebody/someone else.

Thai authorities/specialists vs UN scientist = no contest.

What Thai authorities fail to understand is that there is a reason why this stuff is banned in civilised countries: IT KILLS (more than only bedbugs).

[Eric]

Len, if formulated chlorpyrifos was used, the actives are very low in percentage and will take literally oral consumption in large volume to register sufficient toxicity in the body and to kill. It is still an unsolved mystery. There was a case of fatality of a man using technical granular without gloves for crop application. Kill the bloke in 6 days. Unless technical chlorpyrifos was use and large amount of residue remains and absorbed via the skin, formulated products do not contain sufficient toxicity to cause dealth. Same as some synthetic pyrethoids that are very common now with aerosol spray which is toxic when it is a technical grade.

[drake]

Yall can choose to get hyped up by the conjecture from the so-called "expert" for 60 Kiwi Minutes Witch Hunt but ya might want to take note that he's listed as a Professional Engineer and consultant for "Inventories, Management, Transport and Disposal" of toxic waste as well as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Auckland Business School (MBA ??!).
If he's such a techical expert on toxins what is he doing in an MBA program at a business school ?

Several glaring omissions are the fact that
a) Chlorpyrifos can persist in the environment for years, finding a 'trace' means nothing.

b) Chlorpyrifos is a solid at room temp, the liquid suspension (spray) dried in to white powdery coating - specially in high concentration. Once dried on a surface, it's difficult to get the stuff back in to the air.

c) Chlorpyrifos smells bad, I mean, it STINKS.
The pest control company uses it outside and I can smell it inside with the windows closed.
If the room had just been sprayed with this stuff the girls would have noticed it.
But they didn't.

[wilko]

When will Thailand embrace the concept of "the customer comes first?"

The sad thing about this apart from the obvious loss of life is that it typifies the Thai reaction to this sort of thing and any problem affecting business big or small - the instinct is to cover up, deny sweep under the carpet, balk and ignore in the hop it will go away.

Thankfully this time the Bangkok post and a few of the international media have decided to run with it, lets hope that it marks the start of a change of attitude throughout Thai business.

Although, I suspect that before a major sea-change an take place it will require a change in government and some serious legislation and enforcement.....that means a long time.......

In the meantime visitors to Thailand need to be aware that their visit to "paradise" can turn into hell at the drop of a hat and the "authorities" will try to do everything in their power to avoid accepting any kind of blame or responsibility.

This attitude extends from the very smallest transaction right up to the most major of problems - it is NEVER the fault of the business ALWAYS the fault of the customer.

[surinfarm]

That's Thailand for you. Things long banned in "normal" countries are still legal here.

They will only become illegal if they kill some important Thai politician/militair/police/PAD person or family member of this person.

These tragic deaths in Chiang Mai, where the outcome offers no reconciliation whatsoever to the victims families, is only the last step of Thailand to make the country more and more unattractive for foreign tourists.

The next step will undoubtable be the unrest after the July elections.

Normal counties? What might this be?

[len]

Mates, a team of Thai / international toxicology experts now say there’s now not enough evidence to support examining the insecticide chlorpyrifos as the cause of Sarah Carter's death!


They say chlorpyrifos is neither easily absorbed by the skin nor does it cause rapid illness or death in a healthy adult unless it is ingested or inhaled in very high quantities and was not noted by the two surviving women.


Here’s the rest of it:
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/crimes/ ... ommon-link

[wilko]

As I said earlier - concentrating on what caused the deaths is only one of the issues raised here. What I find equally serious and very troubling is the attitude that has been adopted by all the Thai interests involved in this - it has been a concerted campaign of obstruction and denial and has taken every opportunity to pass the blame on to the customer.

This is a serious national problem that is highlighted by these deaths and illnesses and it needs to be communicated to anyone who intends to visit Thailand whatever their reason.