Altogether 131 primary and middle school students in the county
of Jingyang, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, were reported poisoned by
ricin on early Thursday.
The source with Xi'an Xijing hospital said they have received on
Wednesday night the first student among the group, who was poisoned
after mistakenly eating the castor bean.
Li Xiaojing, magistrate of the county, said all the poisoned
students had taken part in a ricinus planting activity organized by
the provincial youth working commission and a local company in late
March.
By press time, all the poisoned students are receiving the
medical inspections in the hospital.
All the other students who took part in the activity have
received the checkup but no more ricinism cases have been
detected.
(Xinhua News Agency April 7, 2006)
