Three children hospitalised after eating bean seeds

| Wednesday February 10, 2016 17:05

The mother of two of the children aged two and four years, Taboka Jack, told Mmegi that they discovered the children sweating profusely, with fevers in the back of a car, where they had been playing. The seeds were in the car.

“The children are getting better and we’re hopeful that they will be discharged from the Nyangabgwe Referral Hospital (NRH) very soon,” she said.

The hospital’s spokesperson, Keekae Majeremane, confirmed the incident but said the children’s parents would have more details on the incident.

“The children were brought to the hospital on Tuesday,” Majeremane said. “They had developed a bout of diarrhoea but they are currently convalescing at the hospital and are getting better. I advise parents to keep anything unfit for human consumption out of reach of children.”

According to researchers, many commercial seeds, including some non-GM conventional seeds, bear toxicity warnings that the average consumer may never see. While using treated seeds can produce significant yield advantages, the public is warned not to use them for human consumption.