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DOH unit educates schools on risks of poisonous plants

Some of the most attractive and hardy common ornamental plants are packed with poison, herbalists told teachers at a special session organized by the Department of Health yesterday.

Both medicinal and harmful plants occur in abundance on school grounds and in parks, gardens and other public areas, said Kuo Chao-lin (郭昭麟), associate professor at Taichung's China Medical University.

Kuo was commissioned by the department's committee on Chinese medicine and pharmacy to produce two public education posters, one showing common poisonous plants and the other showing how to identify dried Chinese medicine.

He will also be holding lectures for primary and secondary school teachers to educate them on how to protect children from poisonous plants.

"Children are naturally curious about plants, especially interesting plants like the sea mango, or Cerbera manghas," Kuo said. "They might touch it or even try to eat the fruit."

Although the sea mango superficially resembles the common mango, it is packed with poisonous alkaloids, Kuo said.

Sea mangos, daturas and oleanders and other common schoolyard plants are all potentially deadly, Kuo said.

"Schools choose them because they are attractive and easy to care for," said Kuo.

Apart from poisonous plants, medicinal plants also abound in green spaces all around us, Kuo said. He advised non-professionals against self-medicating.

In one case of mistaken identity, an amateur herbalist ingested enough digitalis by accident to require hospitalization, Kuo said.

Cases of mild poisoning by the herb Typhonium divaricatum, a common plant easily identified by its heart-shaped leaves with a dart-like tip, have also been reported. Although the plant's tuber is considered a Chinese cure for certain lung ailments, both the tuber and the leaves contain large quantities of poisonous alkaloids.

"Somehow, it gained a totally specious reputation for curing cancer," Kuo said. "So people started eating its leaves."

Initial side-effects of ingesting Typhonium divaricatum leaves include a numb mouth and stinging sensation in the throat. More serious effects include breathing irregularities, Kuo said.
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