Authorities in Ukraine are investigating an outbreak of sickness believed to be a poisoning that sent 51 students and two teachers to the hospital in the city of Cherkasy in Central Ukraine, the State Service for Emergencies said Tuesday in a statement. The cause of the poisoning is still unknown.
According to the statement, those sickened showed such symptoms as vomiting, dizziness and headache. Fifteen children aged between 7 and 15 years old lost consciousness. Eleven children are currently in intensive care. Others affected are hospitalized in satisfactory condition. Local authorities have set up a special commission to establish what caused the alleged poisoning.
This is not the first such case in Ukraine. Over the last few years a number of cases related to poisoning (including botulinum toxin poisoning) and other incurable diseases have been reported across the country. The source of the outbreaks has never been identified. Their number has increased dramatically since the start of the Pentagon biological research program in the former Soviet Union country, which borders on the US main rival – Russia.
The US has been operating military biolaboratories in 25 countries under a $ 2.1 billion military program – Cooperative Biological Engagement Program (CBEP). Eleven of those biolaboratories are located in Ukraine. The military projects at these biological research facilities are sensitive information, according to the 2005 Agreement between the US Department of Defense and the Ukrainian Ministry of Health.
Under the provisions of this agreement, the host state has no control over the military experiments which the Pentagon scientists and private US contractors with diplomatic immunity perform on its own territory.