Seven San Francisco middle school students were hospitalized this afternoon after coming into contact with rat poison they mistook for candy, fire department spokeswoman Lt. Mindy Talmadge said.
Talmadge said the Martin Luther King Jr. Academic Middle School children, boys and girls all between the ages of 10 and 12, found the poison atop a high filing cabinet in a classroom.
The school is located at 350 Girard St. in the Portola District.
“We were notified by a concerned parent who got a phone call from
his daughter saying she and some of her friends had eaten some rat poisoning,” Talmadge said. The incident was reported at 12:08 p.m.
Talmadge said the children had apparently mistaken the poison for candy.
“Only two of them really ingested it, the others kind of licked it,” Talmadge said.
She said none of the students were showing any symptoms of poisoning, but were taken to the hospital as a precaution so doctors could evaluate them.
“This type of poison is basically a blood thinner and it’s got a delayed type of effect,” Talmadge said. “The amount (consumed) was so miniscule that we’re not expecting them to have any symptoms at all.”
Ari Burack, Bay City News
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