The seeds were treated with high concentrations of toxic pesticides, including the organophosphates acephate and chlorpyrifos.
Organophosphates are powerful poisons which attack the central nervous system.
Risk of cancer depends on duration and level of exposure. The disposal site is on private land in the center of a rural population of three thousand, less than 170 meters from a primary school with 262 pupils. Health problems were immediately reported. Instead of water, toxic sludge oozed from the wells and pumps. The poison claimed its first victim on December 28, the day of the death of Agust n Ruiz Aranda.