More Problems With Pesticides

摘要

In march 2008, Solutions reported how a seaman was killed when phosphine gas released by a fumigant of the ship's grain cargo leaked into his quarters because of a defective bulkhead. Another recent casualty investigation, this time from the Australian Transport Safety Board, has highlighted a different problem that may arise from the use of fumigants. In this case, the ship, a four-hold handysize bulker, had loaded a full cargo of palm kernel expeller (PKE) in Indonesia for discharge at Gee-long in Australia. PKE is one of several products of a type known as seed cake used for feeding livestock, which is a by-product of crushing and extracting oil from vegetable seeds.The end product is high in fibre and contains varying amounts of residual oil.