New incident report
Incident Report Number: 2014-5108
Registrant Reference Number: SC1472322
Registrant Name (Full Legal Name no abbreviations): Dow AgroSciences Canada Inc.
Address: 450-1st Street SW, Suite 2100
City: Calgary
Prov / State: AB
Country: Canada
Postal Code: T2P 5H1
Human
Country: UNITED STATES
Prov / State: FLORIDA
PMRA Registration No. PMRA Submission No. EPA Registration No. 62719-220-55467
Product Name: Govern 4E
Liquid
Yes
Unknown
Site: Agricultural-Outdoor/Agricole-extérieur
Préciser le type: Sugar
No
Medical Professional
Sex: Male
Age: >19 <=64 yrs / >19 <=64 ans
System
Unknown / Inconnu
Yes
Yes
Unknown
Occupational
Application
What was the activity? Please refer to field 13 on Subform II or field 17 of subform III for a detailed description regarding the activity
None
Skin
Unknown / Inconnu
Unknown / Inconnu
On September 28, 2014 caller stated that her (age) yr old son spent about 10 hrs working with the product as part of the crop-dusting process on their farm on the night of Sept. 26, 2014. He had a crack in his boot at the time which allowed the product to get onto his sock. It is unclear by what other means he would have been exposed to the pesticide. It is unclear if the pesticide he was exposed to had been diluted for application or whether he may have been exposed to the concentrate. It is unclear when the patient decontaminated. By the next day, he had developed dizziness, nausea, trembling, and wheezing. Other symptoms reported included vomiting, diarrhea, and headache. As of Sept. 28, 2014, all of his skin was red. On Sept. 28, the patient began to experience generalized muscle weakness, generalized confusion, dizziness and labored breathing prompting his transport to the hospital in (State).. The extent of the patient's muscle weakness was that he could not take more than 3-4 steps. His tidal volume was reported as being low however there were no blood gases collected. The patient had not displayed any cholinergic s/sxs overthe 24 hours from when he was admitted . The ER physician ordered an RBC acetylcholinesterase level but results were not reported to DAS.There is a suspicion that he may have been exposed over much of his body given that he has a red rash over much of his body. The mother indicated that she did not think her son is very careful working with this pesticide and that he does not wear protective equipment.Follow-up on Sept. 29 indicated that the patient was gradually doing better but continued to show muscle weakness and confusion at the hospital. He received 2 doses of pralidoxime. They indicated that they intend to give him 2 more doses over the next 24 hours.Follow-up completed on Oct 1. The mother stated that her son was discharged from the hospital the previous evening. Since that time, her son's condition worsened again. He experienced further vomiting, muscle twitching and reportedly lost consciousness for a brief period of time. The mother then brought him to a different hospital (Physician's Regional Hospital). She states that they are using Zofran to control the patient's vomiting.
Major
The information contained in this report is based on self-reported statements provided to the registrant during telephone Interview(s). These self-reported descriptions of an incident have not been independently verified to be factually correct or complete descriptions of the incident. For that reason, information contained in this report does not and can not form the basis for a determination of whether the reported clinical effects are causally related to exposure to the product identified in the telephone interviews. It is evident in this case that the pesticide may have been mishandled or proper protective equipment was not used given the method of application. It is also unclear if product had been diluted prior to exposure. Sustain skin contact to the concentrated pesticide may conceivably produce systemic poisoning following percutaneous absorption however, it is unclear to what extent the patient was exposed or how long. The clinical history appears consistent with organophosphate poisoning, however, a significant portion of the information provided was not medical verified, nor were the results of RBC cholinesterase testing reported. Multiple attempts were made to follow-up with the patients mother, but she elected to not return messages.