DUBAI // The death of a man from the dangerous pesticide phosphine has thrown the spotlight on the illegal use of such substances, with pest-control professionals saying they are not for domestic use.
The Filipino died on July 28, after his neighbour used the pesticide, police said.
Five others were treated at Zulekha Hospital in Al Nahda after displaying symptoms that doctors at first thought were food poisoning.
An investigation later found illegal use of phosphine gas in a neighbour’s flat.
“If anybody happens to breathe this poison they will die,” said Mohanan Achuthan, manager operations at Armour Pest Control, a licensed company based in Dubai.
“It is highly toxic. Not all companies can use this chemical.”
Fumigating tablets that release toxins in gas form are not allowed for use in residential areas in Dubai – only in industrial areas, said Mr Achuthan.
“The problem is, many people are not aware of this and are buying it and using it illegally,” he said.
“How they are getting it, I don’t know.”
Companies must have special licences from Dubai Municipality to be able to fumigate.
Mr Achuthan said the licence was different to general pest control licences, where less harmful chemicals are used.
Phosphine is mostly used to spray food items, preventing the spread of insects.
Licensed companies cover the items to be sprayed with polyethylene sheets and seal them so that the packaging is airtight.
Tablets are then placed through openings and the items are kept sealed for three days before being uncovered.
The Filipino’s death is not the first time pesticides have killed in the UAE.
In 2010, improper use of insecticide by a pest control company in Ajman killed two five-month-old boys and left their triplet sister badly ill in hospital.
A year later, a 33-year-old man was killed in Dubai.
In May 2012, 10 people were treated in hospital after the chemical was used to kill insects in an adjacent flat in Dubai’s Naif area.
Khalid Al Awadhi, director of food control at Dubai Municipality, said inspectors and emergency teams worked hard to work out what happened to the Filipino, after initially thinking food poisoning was the cause of death.
“The death was not caused by eating spoilt food or food poisoning, as has been said, but because of a gas leak of phosphine used as a pesticide, where one of the tenants left cylinders containing the gas not properly sealed in his apartment,” Mr Al Awadhi said.
“The gas leaked and led to the death of the one man and severe illness of five others.”
He said that at a flat down the corridor from the victim’s apartment, inspectors noticed tape around the door.
The apartment owner was called and he told police that he used five containers of aluminium phosphine before closing down his apartment and heading to Hatta for Eid.
Pest-control experts, with the help of Dubai Police, later ventilated the scene and disposed of the containers safely.
A health and safety team operated the ventilation to lower toxic gas levels in the air and also followed up on the evacuation of the building by Civil Defence.
Mr Al Awadhi said that phosphine had been banned from use without the approval and authorisation of the Ministry of Environment and Water.
He called on the public to avoid using such materials because of its harmful effects on public health.
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ETFs explained
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There are thousands to choose from, with the five biggest providers BlackRock’s iShares range, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisors SPDR ETFs, Deutsche Bank AWM X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
The Brutalist
Director: Brady Corbet
Stars: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn
Rating: 3.5/5
MATCH INFO
Watford 1 (Deulofeu 80' p)
Chelsea 2 (Abraham 5', Pulisic 55')
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THE LIGHT
Director: Tom Tykwer
Starring: Tala Al Deen, Nicolette Krebitz, Lars Eidinger
Rating: 3/5
Iran's dirty tricks to dodge sanctions
There’s increased scrutiny on the tricks being used to keep commodities flowing to and from blacklisted countries. Here’s a description of how some work.
1 Going Dark
A common method to transport Iranian oil with stealth is to turn off the Automatic Identification System, an electronic device that pinpoints a ship’s location. Known as going dark, a vessel flicks the switch before berthing and typically reappears days later, masking the location of its load or discharge port.
2. Ship-to-Ship Transfers
A first vessel will take its clandestine cargo away from the country in question before transferring it to a waiting ship, all of this happening out of sight. The vessels will then sail in different directions. For about a third of Iranian exports, more than one tanker typically handles a load before it’s delivered to its final destination, analysts say.
3. Fake Destinations
Signaling the wrong destination to load or unload is another technique. Ships that intend to take cargo from Iran may indicate their loading ports in sanction-free places like Iraq. Ships can keep changing their destinations and end up not berthing at any of them.
4. Rebranded Barrels
Iranian barrels can also be rebranded as oil from a nation free from sanctions such as Iraq. The countries share fields along their border and the crude has similar characteristics. Oil from these deposits can be trucked out to another port and documents forged to hide Iran as the origin.
* Bloomberg
The Bio
Ram Buxani earned a salary of 125 rupees per month in 1959
Indian currency was then legal tender in the Trucial States.
He received the wages plus food, accommodation, a haircut and cinema ticket twice a month and actuals for shaving and laundry expenses
Buxani followed in his father’s footsteps when he applied for a job overseas
His father Jivat Ram worked in general merchandize store in Gibraltar and the Canary Islands in the early 1930s
Buxani grew the UAE business over several sectors from retail to financial services but is attached to the original textile business
He talks in detail about natural fibres, the texture of cloth, mirrorwork and embroidery
Buxani lives by a simple philosophy – do good to all
About Proto21
Date started: May 2018
Founder: Pir Arkam
Based: Dubai
Sector: Additive manufacturing (aka, 3D printing)
Staff: 18
Funding: Invested, supported and partnered by Joseph Group
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What can you do?
Document everything immediately; including dates, times, locations and witnesses
Seek professional advice from a legal expert
You can report an incident to HR or an immediate supervisor
You can use the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation’s dedicated hotline
In criminal cases, you can contact the police for additional support
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
Ferrari
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Michael%20Mann%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Adam%20Driver%2C%20Penelope%20Cruz%2C%20Shailene%20Woodley%2C%20Patrick%20Dempsey%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
The winners
Fiction
- ‘Amreekiya’ by Lena Mahmoud
- ‘As Good As True’ by Cheryl Reid
The Evelyn Shakir Non-Fiction Award
- ‘Syrian and Lebanese Patricios in Sao Paulo’ by Oswaldo Truzzi; translated by Ramon J Stern
- ‘The Sound of Listening’ by Philip Metres
The George Ellenbogen Poetry Award
- ‘Footnotes in the Order of Disappearance’ by Fady Joudah
Children/Young Adult
- ‘I’ve Loved You Since Forever’ by Hoda Kotb
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SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20SAMSUNG%20GALAXY%20S24%20ULTRA
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The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia