Cuddalore, 15 February 2007: Twenty school children fainted in the Eachangadu school at SIPCOT on Monday after they inhaled noxious emissions from SPIC Pharma. The incident occurred at about 11:30 am in the morning when a very strong rotten eggs odour was noticed from SPIC. According to the Eachangadu villagers within minutes of noticing the odour the school children and local residents started reporting symptoms of suffocation, giddiness, eye burning and vomiting. About 20 children fainted after being exposed to the chemical odour for a while. The school teachers immediately administered first aid to the children and sent them home for the day.
This is not the first time that the school children in Eachangadu have been affected by the emissions of SPIC Pharma. There have been repeated complaints from the village about similar symptoms or incidents in the past. In February 2005, a similar incident of school children fainting was reported but no action was taken on the violator. Community complaints about air pollution in SIPCOT are yet to be taken seriously despite scientific evidence presented by SACEM that the SIPCOT air contains at least 25 toxic chemicals, most of them above the safe limits.
The local residents have sent a written complaint about this incident to the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board and the District Collector demanding investigation into the incident and compensation under the Public Liability Insurance Act.
See the earlier story here:
- Schoolchild faints; teacher worried about SIPCOT emissions
www.sipcotcuddalore.com/updates_170205b.html