Paraquat case causes hospital emergency

By Carly Udy and Sandra Conchie
A Bay man has been poisoned by the banned lethal weed killer paraquat - sparking a two-hour decontamination alert at Tauranga Hospital last night.
The 53-year-old Mount Maunganui man was brought into the emergency department about 5pm.
Ambulance officers found the man on Kaikokopu Rd off State Highway 2 on the way to Pukehina. He was placed in isolation and airlifted to Waikato Hospital. His condition was not available this morning.
The emergency department's ambulance bay was cordoned off for two hours as two ambulance officers and four others and surroundings were decontaminated.
Tauranga Hospital communications manager Michelle Gray said firefighters decontaminated the ambulance bay to ensure patients and hospital visitors were not in danger of making contact with traces of the deadly herbicide.
She said the emergency department continued to operate as usual.
Paraquat is a dangerous herbicide that now forbidden for use in New Zealand. Poison information officer for New Zealand's Poison Information Centre Mairead Harnett said paraquat used to be quite widely used in New Zealand but its use had since been restricted.
"A lot of elderly people might still have it in their garages.
"It is quite dangerous," she said.
Ms Harnett said depending on the concentration, consuming as much as a mouthful, could be enough to cause death.
Tauranga Senior Station Office Jeff Maunder said he and his officers were called to the ambulance bay shortly after 5pm.
They cordoned off the area to stop the contamination spreading, which occurred due to the poisoned man vomiting in the ambulance,
Mr Maunder said up to six people required decontamination including two ambulance officers.
The people were put through the Fire Service's hazard material unit and washed down with soap and water.