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Hallucinations mark thallium poisoning in Estonia
Identifier
029497
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
NEW SCIENTIST - Hallucinations mark thallium poisoning in Estonia
8 April 1989
CHILDREN in the town of Sillamae in northeastern Estonia are losing
their hair and suffering hallucinations in what seems to be the second outbreak
of thallium poisoning in the Soviet Union within a year. So far, 24 children
have become ill in the town and 17 have been sent for treatment to the Institute
of Paediatrics in Moscow.
A special commission is investigating the cause. Thallium is a toxic
white metal used to kill rats and in a range of industrial processes. Meanwhile,
children are continuing to fall ill in the Ukrainian town of Chernovtsy
where a similar outbreak of poisoning which began last August is now affecting
several hundred children (This Week, 28 January). According to the weekly
newspaper, Moscow News, residents of Chernovtsy are angry that official
investigations have failed to identify the source or prevent further cases.
While tests have confirmed that thallium is the main cause of illness,
a report prepared by the R&D Institute of the Soviet Ministry of Internal
Affairs has also found abnormally high levels of the toxic element, boron,
in the affected children. Alexander Baranov, the Soviet deputy public health
minister, says that the most likely source of the thallium is car exhaust
fumes.
Read more: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg12216591-400-hallucinations-mark-thallium-poisoning-in-estonia/#ixzz6JsnaBGMu