I want to point out the very detailed and crisp reporting in this article. All the basic questions of journalism (why, how, when, what, etc.) are answered clearly. There is assignable cause, and a satisfactory closure. All US based news sites should learn from this DW article on how to conduct basic reporting.
If one woman’s ointment can contaminate a whole water system, just think what all the drugs flowing into our water systems are doing.
Even if you don’t take drugs yourself, you’re getting it in the water.
Yeah. India. Definitely scratched off my bucket list.
Apparently not one of the more healthy medical tourism destinations.
What does a pig put on his skin to feel better?
Oinkment.
What else did she import into country?
“...but it also warned people to be careful about the products they buy overseas.”
Speaking of overseas products. A few years ago, yellow jackets had set up a huge nest in a drop cloth I had neglected to put away. The bug spray I used hardly touched them, so I picked up a different brand at the local HW store.
It was from Taiwan and had a crude drawing of a hornet on its back with an X over each eye. I think the name of the product was “HOT!” Anyway , I sprayed once into a group that was flying around, and BAM! Knocked them right out of the air. Killed the whole nest with just a few more sprays.
The ingredients weren’t listed, at least in English. It was all Chinese lettering except for the “HOT!”
Many years later, I feel fine.
Sounds like fake news. It’s only on one website and sewers don’t lead to the water supply.
Otherwise every isis-wannabe yokel would be poisoning entire cities by flushing poison
A few years ago a trio of yutes in a local suburb dropped ONE mercury thermometer in the street. The street was closed off for three or four days while guys in hazmat suits decontaminated the area.
Just a WAG on my part but methinks the city got a bill for several tens of thousands of dollars & the hazmat guys might have been lucky if it turned out they made $10 an hour. Whoever got the contract (somebody’s nephew ?) cleaned up big-time.
I’m not surprised by all the sulfur and mercury in traditional Indian topicals. I’m a bit surprised there was that much copper present as, unlike S and Hg, Cu doesn’t have a much of a rep for being effective. Topical mercury products were felt to help many conditions in the past, they just had lousy safety profiles and thus were abandoned as soon as even marginally effective but safer options arose. What surprises me most was they didn’t find any arsenic! Its reported to be a very common ingredient in traditional Indian medicines, probably is also effective for many things. And although it also has toxicity issues its side effects are probably more insidious than mercury’s.
Does she have any history of traveling to Flint Michigan?