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Toxic grain threatens Nigerian food security
The hospitalisation of 116 girls after consuming beans sprayed with harmful pesticides at a secondary school in northern Nigeria's Gombe State on 18 April has raised concerns about how dry foods are stored all around the country.
“Local farmers have the habit of pouring any storage chemicals they can find on their produce,” William Joseph, director of research at the Nigerian Stored Produce Research Institute (NSPRI) told IRIN in his office.
He said farmers apply more pesticides on beans than on other crops because they are more susceptible to attack by pests. “They do not think about the health implications for consumers,” he said.
The students at Doma Government Secondary School for Girls suffered diarrhea hours after eating the beans and were in hospital at the federal medical centre in Gombe in the state capital for five days.
State officials have since banned the consumption of beans in all boarding schools.
