MYSTERY OF ARSENIC.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21199, 3 December 1930, Page 10

MYSTERY OF ARSENIC.

POISON POWDER ON SWEETS. ILLNESS OF 13 CHILDREN. Enough arsenic to kill thousands of people has been found in sweets made at a factory at Burelem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. The discovery followed the illness, due to arsenic poisoning, of 13 children, who had eaten sweets from the factory. The Ministry of Health and. the local medical officer of health on September 9 closed and sealed the factory and traced all recent supplies of sweets sent out. A white " dusting powder" used to coal the sweets to prevent them from Sticking together is believed to have contained arsenic. The poisoned sweets were first discovered by Dr R: B. Davidson, medical officer of health for Congleton, Cheshire, who was called in to investigate an outbreak of illness among 13 children in a local school. He found the children suffering from internal pains and sickness, diagnosed the illness as arsenic poisoning, and traced the poieon to a pennyworth of cough drops which a child had bought and distributed among 12 of her friends. Samples of the sweets were sent to the Ministry of Health, and on analysis were found to contain arsenic in the proportion of 150 grains to one pound of sweets. Dr Davidson pointed out that as there were four pounds of ewcets in the bottle this meant a total of 600 grains of arsenic, or enough in Congleton alone to kill 300 people. The Ministry of Health traced the source of the sweets to Burslem, and sent an. inspector there to organise a round-up of all sweets from the factory. Dr /Wotherspoon, medical officer of health for Stoke-on-Trent, described how he apd the food and drug inspector, Mr Sidney Green, dashed by motor car to various parte of the Potteries to recover the 49 bottles of sweets which had been sent out at the same time as those supplied to Congleton. " With the help of a Ministry of Health official, we found first the factory in which the sw«ets were made," he 6aid. "We asked the manufacturers where the sweets had been sent. They had been handled through wholesale dealers and our next step was to trace them to the retailers. "After reference to order books and inquiries among van drivers, we located all the 49 bottles. Then, by the use of telephones and a car we stopped the retailers from selling these sweets. The bottles have been sealed and detained in the shops. "The chief danger that remains is that children may have bought some of the sweets before the discovery was made, and may eat them if their parents have not seen the warning which I issued not to allow children to eat a single boiled sweet bought before this morning." The sweets were found iii shops at Tunstal], Burslem, Hanley, Stoke, Fenton, Longton, Crewe, Leek, and Congleton. It is understood that enough arsenic has been found in sweets at the factory or since recovered from shops to kill many thousands of people. Thf manufacturer is said to have bought the dusting powder" from a man who formerly made sweets and had some pounds of this powder left over. The manufacturer himself was taken ill recently, and /lis illness is now believed to have been caused by contact with the powder. _ When officials entered the factory analy. bis revealed that large quantities of materials, including sugar, glucose, colouring and flavouring matter, were contaminated by arsenic. The factory was thereupon dosed and sealed by the police. It is thought that many recent cases of illness among children in Stoke-on-Trent and district may have been caused byeating sweets.