Four Years Later, Victims of Panama Mass Poisoning Demand Justice

alt(laht.com) - PANAMA CITY – After four years of waiting for the government to take action, the surviving victims of the tainted cough medicines containing dietylene glycol, which caused the biggest mass poisoning in Panamanian history, wound up an October of protests demanding that those responsible be put on trial and better health care be provided to the nation.

 
People affected by the poisoning, and family members of those who died of it, joined together Friday as the Right to Health and Life Committee, something they have done every week this October, to commemorate the month when authorities officially informed them of the medical catastrophe that had occurred.
 
Four years ago, hundreds of people insured under Panama’s social security system, most of them children and the elderly, went as they did every year to medical centers to receive treatment for common illnesses such as colds and skin irritations.
 
The medicines that some were given, however, caused a mass poisoning that up to now has taken 153 lives and left thousands of people affected, many without even knowing it.
 
Diethylene glycol, a toxic industrial alcohol not meant for human consumption, was used instead of pure glycerine in the preparation of medicines in the CSS social security laboratories, mainly for cough medicines which, according to estimates of the Attorney General’s Office, were taken by at least 6,000 people.
 
Diethylene glycol is a chemical used in brake fluid and radiator coolant that causes those who swallow it to suffer nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, drastic reduction in the flow of urine, and sometimes kidney failure, paralysis and death.
 
When the first deaths from these contaminated medicines occurred, it was determined that the medicines were mostly taken by patients with high blood pressure, diabetes and kidney malfunction.
 
Demonstrators are now protesting the lack of prosecutions, and also to demand better care for the approximately 700 people, 8 of them children, whose illnesses have been diagnosed as a result of the poisoning.
 
The president of the committee, Gabriel Pascual, told Efe that they have asked the government for quicker, easier ways to get their medicines, which sometimes take weeks to acquire, during which time patients’ illnesses only get worse.
 
He said that while it is all very well that construction is underway for a special center for treating victims in the capital, what is being done is not keeping pace with what is needed right now, much to the cost of patients’ quality of life.
 
The judicial process is still at the stage of hearings, but the AG’s office plans to present its case to Panama’s Supreme Court at the end of this year or the beginning of next, special prosecutor Dimas Guevara told Efe.
 
“We have been able to document 89 percent of the incident (consequences, causes and effects) of the toxic substance diethylene glycol, but we depend on the work that forensic medical experts are developing to effectively make our case,” Guevara said.
 
The prosecutor said that charges have been brought against 20 people including Angel de la Cruz, the only person in custody, who was manager of the company that supplied the poisonous substance to the CSS labs.
 
In Spain the Rasfer Internacional company and its manager, Asuncion Criado, are being investigated as the result of a lawsuit presented by the Panamanian victims. Rasfer has been blamed for delivering diethylene glycol imported from China to the CSS labs instead of pure glycerine.
 
Aside from requesting the prosecutions get underway, the Right to Health and Life Committee also demanded better health care from social security because, they say, it is far from being the best or even adequate.
 
The national director of the CSS Special Toxicology Center, Celia Canton, said that authorities are aware of the victims’ needs, but still lack the tools and the economic resources to deal with all requests immediately.
 
“The government in October 2009 decided to create a department to care for patients in special situations, which gave rise to the Special Toxicology Center, which at this time is only attending cases of patients affected by the poison,” Canton told Efe.
 
Canton realizes there is much more to do and that, unfortunately, the center must wait until 2011 to have its own budget, which will allow it to operate with the independence and autonomy that right now it does not have. EFE
 
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Date Retrieved: October 31, 2010.