Dangers in using and handling sodium pentachlorophenate as a molluscicide.

Abstract

In Southern Rhodesia sodium pentachlorophenate (NaPCP) has been in use as a molluscicide in the control of the snail intermediate hosts of bilharziasis since 1953. Until 1959 it had been used on an experimental basis and applied under fairly strict supervision. In 1959, however, it became more easily available through commercial channels and was used as a molluscicide, sprayed on rivers and dams, by farmers using their own labourers. Fatalities occurred and a description of the signs and symptoms to be expected show that the intoxication should be easy to recognize before the condition has gone too far.It is possible with relatively simple precautions to eliminate most of the dangers and there would seem to be no reason on these grounds why NaPCP should not continue to be used on a wide scale as a molluscicide.