Tonight, a two year old is in stable condition at the pediatric ward of the KHMH after she ingested a deadly pesticide.
It started just after 7:00 last night when Orange Walk police got a panicked phone call saying that a female had been poisoned in San Felipe village and was experiencing convulsions.
Turns out it was two year old Melanie Santos. The toddler had picked up and eaten a piece of bread that her father, 42 year old Orlando Santos, had soaked in a deadly pesticide. He did that to attract and poison rats, but he put the poison-bread on the bed and - not knowing better - baby Melanie took a bite.
Tonight, we can say it's a miracle that she survived - and we know that because we spoke to Miriam Serrut from the Pesticides Control Board - who explained that Lannate is a highly poisonous chemical compound that should never, ever be used in the home:
Miriam Serrut, Registrar of Pesticides, PCB
"We have three different Lannate formulations registered. So assuming that the incident occurred with the person using one of the three registered products in the country, we would want to know where he bought it and who recommended that use to him because it is a big issue, it is a serious issue that concerns us a lot that pesticide retailers are recommended pesticides that are intended for agricultural use, they're recommending it for other uses, that practice has got to stop."
"Now, the actual use, I mean I don't want to add any further anguish to this family but I would really like to appeal to the Belizean public, when you are handling a pesticide, a pesticide is a poison. Pesticides are poisons. And Lannate for example contains an active ingredient called Methomyl. Methomyl is highly hazardous, all these formulations, they belong to the higher level of hazard. They present the highest level of hazard, especially, well in the case of Methomyl, which is the active ingredient of Lannate, the lethal dose for that is 358 milligram per kilo of body weight. So it becomes even more critical if we're talking about a child because it's less body weight."
"Because it's a cholinesterase inhibitor, some of the adverse effects that would be seen would be nausea, diarrhoea, vomiting, muscle cramps, fatigue, insomnia, dizziness, headache, so cholinesterase inhibitors lead to increased communication between nerve cells."
"For this class of pesticides, there is an antidote, so they will be administering atropine."
Last night Melanie Santos was rushed to the Northern Regional Hospital and then transported to the KHMH around 11:00 pm. Tonight the hospital has confirmed that she remains in a stable condition.
