Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 21
By Emil Ilgar - Trend:
At least 120 people in Iran's Tehran province have died as a result of poisoning with aluminum phosphide, known as rice tablets during the ten months of current Iranian calendar year (started on March 21).
A 17.6 percent increase was observed in death tolls compared to the same period of last year.
Some 36 of the dead persons were women, Iran's Legal Medicine Organization reported.
Aluminum phosphide (ALP) is a cheap solid fumigant and a highly toxic pesticide. Some Iranian traders reportedly use the tablets for grain preservation.
There is not any official statistics about the all death tolls in the country as result of poisoning with rice tablets.
Starting from 2008 to 2012, about 2000 people died in Iran due to poisoning from the "Rice Tablet", the highest poisoning rate occurred among those of 20-40 year old. Most cases were registered as suicides.
Iran banned import of "Rice Tablets" in 2005. But, in September 2012, it was reported that the "Rice Tablets" were being imported illegally.