Food poisoning hits Philippines

Fri, 24 Apr 1998 | Source: AP

BACOLOD, Philippines (AP): Fifteen people have been hospitalized in the drought-stricken central Philippines after eating insecticide-laden shellfish and poisonous wild tubers, officials said yesterday.

Gov. Rafael Coscolluela of Negros Occidental province said the drought had caused about 100 million pesos ($2.6 million) in crop losses in the province, a major sugar-producing region.

Coscolluela said crops on 7,628 hectares of sugar cane fields had been lost because of the drought.

The victims ate shellfish gathered from the nearby Tios River, which carries the runoff from nearby rice fields that had been sprayed with poison to kill snails, provincial medical officer Ernell Tumimbang said.

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