The recall by Certis of Talunex and the very sad death of a man near Berwick, Northumberland are both very unfortunate, but totally unrelated, incidents.
The only common thread linking these two incidents is the closeness of their timing. Nothing else.
The first incident
On 6 April, Certis UKmade the decision to issue a product recall for Talunex. Concerns regarding quality issues surrounding the manufacturing quality and resulting integrity of Talunex pellets were cited as the cause.
All Talunex customers i.e. their distributors, have been asked to quarantine all product stocks and recall all product that has been supplied to licensed operators that may still be in stores that is less than one year old i.e. manufactured after 6 April 2008. “Sales are suspended until there is a full and satisfactory resolution of the quality issue. However, any product that was manufactured before 6 April 2008 can still be used,” says Certis.
This clearly indicates that should operators hold stock that is over one year old it can still be commercially used, or used for training purposes. If stock is less than one year old, usage and training should be post-poned until Certis completes their investigations..
An official statement was issued on 9 April by Certis. Click here to read it.
And the second
On 7 April a man was found collapsed only a few feet away from his vehicle at Cocklawburn Beach near Scremerstan, not far from Berwick-on-Tweed, Northumberland. The man died en-route to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. Inside the dead man’s vehicle a flask omitting gas was found – this was subsequently identified as Phostoxin.
Click here to see the incident report as recorded in the local (Newcastle) Journal .
After the man’s death the paramedic crew pulled-up on the AI and a desicion was made to
decontaminate four Northumbria Police officers and two ambulance crew. This led to the closure of the A1 for five hours.
A spokesman from Rentokil, the distributors for Phostoxin, said: “An experienced team from the Rentokil pest control division was immediately dispatched to assist the local authourities with gas monitoring equipment. This is a dreadfully sad situation and is subject to an on-going investigation.”