Schools must chop down trees with poisonous flower, seed

Following the hospitalization of primary students due to eating wutong seed lately, schools nationwide are asked to chop down the tree.

Primary students in Nghe An province are hospitalized due to eating wutong seeds (Photo: SGGP)

As per the proposal of the Vietnam Food Administration  (VFA) under the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education and Training should direct schools to cut down trees with toxic flower or seeds.

If any schools plant toxic tree for learning purpose, it should have warning signs to keep students away from the tree.

Schools must increase information of food safety, poisoning prevention and early discover poisoned incident to provide timely treatment to students.

VFA said that recently, primary students have been poisoned because they mistakenly thought wutong seed as walnuts planted in school premises. VFA warned that Gelsemium elegans, Datura alba Lour contain Alcaloid toxicity; Nerium oleander, Thevetia peruviana have Glycosid toxicity while Ricinus communis L and Jatropha podagrica ( or wutong) have Toxalbumin toxicity.

(Source: SGGP)