A recent incident in India has left 23 children dead as a result of cooking oil contaminated with monocrotophos. Being as this was a free meal by government, aimed to keep 120 million children well fed and nourished, this turns some heads.
This molecule has been used as an insecticide, but has since been banned in Canada and the US, along with a number of other countries. They have failed to keep a ban on such pesticides due to the issue of having to feed so many hungry mouths, and needing a high crop output. In the countries where it is still legally used as a pesticide it is required to dilute it to 16% by volume of water. But in this case there was no dilution, indicating that there was direct contact with the poison after the oil processing.
This then becomes a question of who is responsible for insuring this doesn't happen again? One option is to enforce the correct usage and safety for this material, but considering the large illiteracy of the population, and difficulty in setting up an enforcement task, this poses much difficulty.
My opinion in how to prevent something like this from happening again is to enforce limitations on the manufacturer of the insecticide, the ones who enticed the Indian government into lifting the ban with their low price point. To either enforce a ban on synthesizing the compound all together, or to impose a concentration restriction, making the manufacturer dilute before the product is sold
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