Methyl Mercury And Seed Grain
In 1971 seed grain, meant to be planted and used as seeds, was instead used as food. It had been treated with a fungicide, highly toxic methyl mercury, and shipped to Iraq from suppliers in Mexico and the US. The mercury-treated seed was dyed red as a warning not to eat it, but the Iraqi’s either did not understand or ignored the skull and crossbones warnings on the bags.
Some ate the seed and suffered muscle paralysis, numbness, loss of vision, and other symptoms typical of mercury poisoning. People were exposed to mercury when they used the grain to make bread and fed the seed to animals and then ate them.
People began to fall ill and die in late 1971 and into 1972 because of food poisoning. In total, it is estimated that at least 650 died from eating or being exposed to this mercury-contaminated seed and an estimated 10,000 people suffered permanent brain damage from the mercury.
