Bug spray sickens Aina Haina students

Hospitals treat 44 nauseated children after winds carry a pesticide to their elementary school

A homeowner spraying his garden with pesticide sickened 44 children yesterday after gusty winds carried strong fumes up the street to Aina Haina Elementary School.

None of the children were seriously injured, though many complained of headaches, nausea and dizziness. At least two vomited and a few had difficulty breathing, Emergency Medical Services spokesman Bryan Cheplic said.

The children, mostly fourth- and fifth-graders, went to five separate hospitals in two city buses. Some walked to the waiting buses clenching their stomachs.

"There was a suspicious odor on our campus, and I called 911," said Susan Okano, the school's principal. "The safety of the students was our primary concern."

The incident started at about 1 p.m. when Ronald Toyama of 5271 Makalena St. and his uncle sprayed their garden plants with malathion. The wind apparently carried the pesticide down the street and straight to the school.

About 10 minutes later, a firefighter knocked on Toyama's door to confirm the source of the insecticide. Firefighters washed the house and garden with water to dilute the malathion, which Toyama said he had used before.

"We use this stuff all the time," he said, adding that it had never caused a problem. "But today, you got wind."

This is the second incident involving malathion that has left children sick. In March a Waiau woman dumped a bottle of malathion down her driveway. The pesticide ran into the storm drain, dried and sent fumes to nearby Waiau Elementary School, authorities said.

Six children and two adults were taken to the hospital.

After the incident yesterday, worried parents gathered in Aina Haina School's parking lot to get word on their children.

"I want to get in there to pick my boy up," said Cliff Rodrigues as he watched kids walking to city buses to be taken to the hospital. "They're not letting us in."

When Rodrigues spotted his 10-year-old, he ran up and hugged him, rubbed his back and then kissed his forehead, holding the boy's head in his hands. "It was a big relief," said Rodrigues' wife, Shanna. The boy had a headache "but looks OK," she added. The fifth-grader went to Queen's.

Authorities kept children who were not sick in their classrooms until an all-clear was sounded at 2:49 p.m., 19 minutes after the school was supposed to get out.

The delay maddened some, who also criticized the school for not giving them up-to-date information on what was going on. One woman pointed out that the principal addressed the news media but never talked to waiting parents.

Okano declined to comment on the concerns, but Honolulu Fire Department spokesman Kenison Tejada said the school followed its procedure and was too busy dealing with the situation to inform parents what was going on.

"In the beginning of an event, you can't start calling (parents) right away," Tejada said.

When Marie Liddel drove up the school and saw firetrucks, ambulances and police patrol cars, she panicked and immediately thought the worst.

"You're shaking, you know?" she said, adding that she thought a child had been hit by a car. Her son, a fifth-grader with asthma, went to Queen's after the pesticide incident.

The students were dropped off in groups of eight to 10 at the Queen's Medical Center, Straub Clinic & Hospital, Kapiolani Center for Women & Children, St. Francis Medical Center and Kuakini Medical Center.

At Straub Hospital yes- terday, workers set up a hazardous-material decontamination area in a parking lot. Students were washed down in a portable shower and given paper gowns to wear. "It's hot water," shouted a girl, one of the first to go through the decontamination process.

After the shower, hospital staff toweled the kids off and bundled them in sheets.

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