Iraq, poisoning

Greenwood MR (1985) Methylmercury poisoning in Iraq - an epidemiological-study of the 1971-1972 outbreak. J Appl Toxicol 5 148-159... 

Fungicides have caused a number of human health disasters. In the late 1950s, approximately 4000 people in Turkey were poisoned by hexachlorobenzene that had been applied to seed grain to protect against soil fungus. Adults and particularly children developed diseases of the skin and bone. In Iraq, a similar incident occurred when people consumed grain coated with a mercury compound. 

Iraq Mercury Mercury used as fungicide to treat seed grain is used in bread more than 5000 severe poisoning, 450 hospital deaths, effects on many infants exposed prenatally not documented... 

Bakir F, Damluji SF, Amin-Zaki L, et al. Methylmercury poisoning in Iraq. Science 1973 181(196) 230-241. 

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the U.S. military consider cyanide a possible weapon of so-called rogue nations such as Iraq, Iran, and North Korea, and terrorist groups. Iraq is believed to have used cyanide to kill thousands in the 1980s during its war with Iran and against Kurds in northern Iraq. With this in mind, the possibility of an antidote takes on added importance. However, the effectiveness of amyl nitrite as an antidote for cyanide poisoning has come under question by some medical authorities. The U.S. military removed amyl nitrite from its cyanide antidote kits, because of adverse side effects (low blood pressure, dizziness, and headaches) and other concerns. 

A common example of neurobehavioral teratogenic effects caused by polluted food is the Minamata disease. In a number of areas in Japan methylmercury from industrial waste accumulated in fish which was one of the main sources of the food of the local population. Another case of poisoning with methylmercury occurred in Iraq, where people consumed grain seed treated with a methylmercury fungicide. Women with only minimal poisoning symptoms gave birth to children that showed many neurological and behavioral abnormalities, such as mental retardation, coordination deficits and seizures (refs. 12, 13). 

R.M. Coik-Deegan etal., Winds of Death Iraqs Use of Poison Gas Against Its Kurdish Population, Report of a Medical mission to Turkish Kurdistan by Physicians for Human Rights, Boston Massachusetts (1989). 

Parathion poisoning in Columbia, Egypt, Iran, Malaysia, Mexico Organic mercury poisoning in seed grains (Iraq, 1972)... 

Iraq Organic mercury poisoning in seed grains ... 

Most of the analytical methods reported above have been successfully employed in cases of human poisoning, either in casualties of the Iraq-Iran and Iraq-Kurd conflicts, or in cases of accidental poisoning. 

Many human tragedies have been caused by organomercury compounds in food. In the twentieth century, mercury compounds, usually the most toxic types, were applied as fungicides to seeds. Large-scale poisoning occurred in Iraq in 1971-1972 as a result of an appalling error, when seeds contaminated with Hg compounds were sold for consumption. After that event, the application of Hg compounds in farming practice declined, but a fair amount of the element remains in the soil. 

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