Bottled Water Deliberately Poisoned in Italy

12/10/03 | vanity

[genefromjersey]

This is intended as a "heads up" !!

In the last 2 weeks,10 people-including 2 small children-have been hospitalized in Italy after drinking bottled water,purchased in supermarkets,that had been poisoned with acetone,ammonia, or bleach . The contaminants had been injected into the bottles,just below their caps.

As of Monday, 12/08, at least 20 cases of contamination of various brands had been reported, and contamination has been found in 20 cities all over the country,including Sicily : giving rise to a suspicion there might be a "copycat factor" at work.

Fortunately, in most cases, consumers noticed the contamination before using the product, and alerted authorities.

Supermarkets have acted promptly: withdrawing thousands of bottles from their shelves, and setting up surveillance cameras;however,cartons of fruit juice and milk are now being tampered with...in-store.

Nobody has claimed responsibility. Police are inclined to suspect the poisonings may be the work of one of the radical anti-capitalist "environmentalist" groups that operate here.

This is now happening in Italy, but, given the almost instant international communication now available, it would seem just a matter of time before the threat emerges here.

It would suggest-starting right now-before using any bottled water,juice,or milk that has been packaged in a penetrable plastic bottle or carton,you sniff the contents: (Not a big lungful-just a small,cautious sniff !)and satisfy yourself there is nothing obviously wrong with the contents...just like Grandma used to do, back in "the olden days".

The prospect of this "juvenile protest method" being used by even more hostile forces,and much more dangerous contaminants is,to put it mildly,worrisome; and I was a bit hesitant about posting this, until I realized it is already widely known in Italy...meaning you will probably be seeing something about it on TV in a week or so.

I'd prefer to give an early warning so we can take some precautions before the "feathers" hit the fan !!

[Atlas Sneezed]

The reson that this stuff does not happen all the time is that usually, no one feels like doing it.

[CJ Wolf]

Thanks Gene! From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/12/10/wmilk10.xml&sSheet=/news/2003/12/10/ixworld.html

A terrorist known as the "Aquabomber", who has been poisoning bottles of mineral water in northern Italy, has started tampering with milk supplies.

Nearly a dozen victims, including three small children, have been taken to hospital with stomach pains after drinking water contaminated with bleach and acetone.

It is thought that syringes are being used to inject the poisons through bottle caps.

The poisonings have caused panic and a flurry of false alarms. On Monday alone, more than 20 cases of apparent tampering with bottles of different brands were reported in various regions.

Yesterday a 16-year-old girl suffered stomach pains after drinking mineral water in the northern town of Lecco.

Last week Federica Zoppi, 30, from Verona, was taken to hospital.

"I had a sip of mineral water and I thought I was going to die," she said. "It was as if a flame had shot through my body. I screamed, but I had no voice."

Police said the first case of milk being contaminated was in Foligno, Umbria.

[sarasota]

Time to order the on-tap water purifier and stop purchasing bottles water.

[genefromjersey]

Substitute Ricin,Botulin,Tularemia,or even Anthrax-any of these in liquid suspension-and inject a few cartons of milk,juice,or bottled water at half a dozen stores, and you could cause a nearly catastrophic panic.

[M1Tanker]

Well, that's one reason I use a Britta pitcher.

It is a good idea to look at the goods you buy ALL THE TIME since tampering with a needle could be quite apparrent (turn the jug over and squeeze gently). Also, you should always check you vegitables/fruit that is sold open since one of these wackos could easily spray them with something (and then blame "evil" corporations for genetically engineering their food).

These people may worship Marx or Gia, but I know GOD gave us eyes to see, noses to smell, fingers to touch, and a brain to use them all. All I'm saying is just shop smart like our grandparents did. If it smells bad, looks bad, or looks tampered with....Don't buy it and please go tell someone.

[CJ Wolf]

Well sorry to bust your bubble but nothing prevents someone from injecting a bit of stuff in those plastic britta filters cept a plastic baggy either. A dark powder might is also expected on the first pitcher.

"These people may worship Marx or Gia" or Allah.

[Alouette]

The reson that this stuff does not happen all the time is that usually, no one feels like doing it.

[TheCrusader]

"Nobody has claimed responsibility. Police are inclined to suspect the poisonings may be the work of one of the radical anti-capitalist "environmentalist" groups that operate here."

Poisening bottled water doesn't sound at all like an 'eco-terrorist', sounds more like the 'religion of peace' to me.

[Smile-n-Win]

Poisening bottled water doesn't sound at all like an 'eco-terrorist', sounds more like the 'religion of peace' to me.

Oh, the two are allies.

Different rhetoric, same goal.

[staytrue]

The charcoal in the filter should catch most injected contaminates.

[genefromjersey]

That's what worries me: that they might decide to "jump into the game" - with worse stuff.

[Atlas Sneezed]

All a poisoner needs is an eye-dropper putting poison on the rim seam of pop or beer cans.

[Indie]

tampering with a needle could be quite apparrent

Injection into fruit at stem area would be impossible to see.
Don't buy it and please go tell someone

I HOPE most of us would but you never know. We can be so careful and still end up on the wrong side of these animals. Unfortunately thanks to free and open immigration and political correctness, we've pretty much let the cat out of his bag.

[thatdewd]

Police are inclined to suspect the poisonings may be the work of one of the radical anti-capitalist "environmentalist" groups that operate here.

That's the LAST group I would suspect of poisoning bottled water. Every time I see those guys they're drinking bottled water. "It's natural".

[yonif]

It will be easy for them to do it in the United States.

[JRjr]

So, do you run your bottled water through a charcoal filter before you drink it?

[staytrue]

Just drink filtered tap water. The dilution factor makes it difficult to poison a water system and the filter will get rid of a lot of other junk from the pipes.

[Darksheare]

A year or two ago someone was getting their rocks off by putting oven cleaner and windex on or around the caps of soda bottles.
Usually Coke and Pepsi.
Didn't make the news because they didn't feel it was newsworthy.
No, the perp never was caught and stopped as suddenly as it started.

[genefromjersey]

You're probably right...BUT,they did do a number on a spring water bottling plant here in the US: something about"clean water belongs to everybody".It was an ELF job-around August,if ancient memory serves;and it sounded as if they had a bit of "inside" help-often the case with ELF and ALF and PEH (Pets Eating Humans)outrages...