Submitted by Anthony Davis
Hon Ronald Jones, Minister of Education - yet another controversy in educatio...
Hon Ronald Jones, Minister of Education – yet another controversy in education…

As education officials put systems in place to hold classes at the Grazettes Primary School at an alternative location next Monday, the Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) is still waiting for some answers…”President Pedro Shepherd told ‘Barbados Today’ there are still questions about what chemicals were used in the fogging exercise that caused the lingering odour that has disrupted school since the beginning of the term…”I am told that the fogging staff of the Ministry of Health used about four or five chemicals mixed together, but they are only identifying one chemical – malathion. All they are saying is that they used malathion, which is an insecticide . . . Today, nobody wants to say what other chemical other than malathion was used in the fogging…”My opinion is that the chemicals used seeped into the furniture

On page 5 of “Barbados Today” dated 02 October, under the headline “Health officials defend fogging”, it states: “Health officials have insisted that the chemicals used for fogging at the Grazettes Primary School were safe.

Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Joy St John said this evening  that the chemical mix  that produces the fog used to kill the dengue and Chikungunya-carrying mosquitoes was as efficacious as it could be without being harmful to human health.”

First of all Dr. St. John, you must understand that not all of us have such a high degree of education that we would understand such words as “efficacious”, and that you and speakers at such occasions should limit such verbiage!

If the other components in the mix are not harmful, how come you are only willing to name one of them – malathion?

The acting Minister of Health says he doesn’t want to get into the debate going on about the situation at the school. How come he is side-stepping that issue? I believe that there is more in the mortar than the pestle in this issue! You cannot give Mr. Shepherd the names of the other chemicals used in the mix, but all of you are adamant that it was the right one!

How come you are so sure?

Were you there when the mixture was being concocted?

Are those who mix these chemicals infallible?

Seeing it was just for one building, is it not possible that too much of one chemical was used?

Is it not possible that someone got mixed up with the difference between litres and gallons?

There was the case of a crash of an airliner, and when the investigators checked with the person who filled the aircraft with fuel he said he had put in the amount of fuel stipulated for the journey in litres, whereas it should have been gallons. Obviously the plane crashed because it ran out of fuel, seeing that one gallon is approximately four litres!

Now you need two buses to ferry the children to school, which means two buses less for commuters who have to do various things – but most important of all to get to/from work. We would all like to know the names of the four other components of the mixture used, and how much of each was used!

31 responses to “Grazettes Saga, ANOTHER”


  1. Is there one single Ministry in Barbados that is functioning properly?
    Just a reminder of the various players in the Cabinet
    …………………………………………………..
    Freundel J. Stuart, M.P.
    Prime Minister, Minister of National Security, The Public Service and Urban Development.
    …………………………………………..
    Adriel D. Brathwaite, M.P.
    Attorney General and Minister of Home Affairs
    ………………………………………………………..
    Richard L. Sealy, M.P.
    Minister of Tourism and International Transport
    …………………………………………..
    Ronald D. Jones, M.P.
    Minister of Education, Science, Technology & Innovation Development
    ……………………………………………
    Christopher P. Sinckler, M.P.
    Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs
    ………………………………………………
    Hon. Michael A. Lashley, M.P.
    Minister of Transport and Works
    …………………………………………….
    Dr. the Hon. David C. Estwick, M.P.
    Minister of Agriculture, Food, Fisheries, and
    Water Resource Management
    ………………………………………………
    Steven D. Blackett, M.P.
    Minister of Social Care, Constituency Empowerment
    and Community Development
    …………………………………………………
    John D. E. Boyce, M.P.
    Minister Of Health
    ……………………………………………
    Denis St.E. Kellman, M.P.
    Minister Of Housing, Lands and Rural Development
    ………………………………………………..
    Denis S. Lowe, M.P.
    Minister of Environment and Drainage
    ……………………………………………………
    Patrick M. T. Todd, M.P.
    Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office
    ……………………………………………………
    Esther Byer-Suckoo
    Minister of Labour, Social Security and Human Resource Development
    …………………………………………………………..
    . Donville O’ Neil Inniss, M.P.
    Minister of Industry, International Business, Commerce & Small Business Development.
    ……………………………………………………..
    Stephen A. Lashley, M.P.
    Minister of Culture, Sports and Youth
    …………………………………………………………
    Senator Maxine P. O. McClean
    Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade
    ………………………………………………………
    Senator Harcourt A. Husbands
    Parliamentary Secretary
    Ministry of Education, Science, Technology & Innovation
    ……………………………………………………………
    Senator Darcy W. Boyce
    Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister
    ………………………………………………………….
    Senator Mrs. V. Irene Sandiford-Garner
    Parliamentary Secretary
    Ministry of Tourism and International Transport
    ……………………………………………………..
    Senator Jepter Ince. J.P.
    Parliamentary Secretary
    Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs
    …………………………………………………………….

  2. HAMILTON A HILL Avatar

    THE CODE OF SILENCE: It permeates every sphere of administration attached to this Circus Clown Conundrum that now afflicts our once beautiful island. The absence of information lends credence to speculation. Stumbling, bumbling and bouts of chronic indecision mixed with examples of bold face lying: Formula used to breed a lack of confidence. Since there is a lack of confidence, lets not wait on the opposition. Every sector in Barbados can come together and register a motion of NO CONFIDENCE in these clowns. I’ll bet my last dollar that if enough tools are put down, closed mouths will be opened up. That would be the end of THE CODE OF SILENCE. You bastards owe thousands of poor folk severance monies yet you flitted away a quarter of a million dollars and feel no obligation to at least give an account? God helps those who help themselves. Bajans what are you waiting for? Shut the country down. It can be done peacefully.


  3. @ Colonel Buggy
    I said on this BU before and will say always that its the Blood Money that was spend by this DLP to win and Govern is playing out on the Ministers, first the BODYS now the MINDS is going

  4. HAMILTON A HILL Avatar

    We could all vent cause they don’t read BU. Right Cyntie? One of your colleagues once told me the same thing, but was able to repeat word for word my every criticism of your party. Said there was some woman that kept him abreast of what BU was serving up. Just got to love these honourable men and women. Who ever thought that there could be no honour in telling lies?


  5. @Hamilton

    Yes BU’s core readership is the politician and media people. Go figure.

    One of these days we will publish the late David Thompson’s comments, makes for interesting insight.

  6. Pieceuhderockyeahright Avatar
    Pieceuhderockyeahright

    @Colonel Buggy

    In response to your query as to whether there is one ministry is functioning right one would say the Ministry of Home Affairs which as you may know is the entity responsible for our cemeteries and disposal of our dead specifically the ones who having given up the ghost are prepared to lie down.

    Not the other type who being dead in body and brain dead, refuse to lie down and walk around still effecting the role of minister of dis or dat


  7. Colonel Buggy

    Why do you need a Minister of sports, Culture and Youth. It seems rather rediculous from this distant perspective, but I guess it’s conducive to the social menu in your part of the world?

  8. Pieceuhderockyeahright Avatar
    Pieceuhderockyeahright

    On the issue of dengue infested classrooms it should be of interest that there are a number of offices and classrooms, specifically those at the vaunted University of the West Indies Cave Hill campus where there are breeding grounds under the guise of classrooms where on average two out of ten students contract dengue every day.

    I mean things may be bad relative to enrollment die to students being able to pay the increased fees but getting cleaning staff to air out these rooms and use the relevant cleaning liquids should help make the rooms habitable


  9. @PODRYR

    To be fair to Cave Hill you can’t have a hole in your budget of 200 million and it does not have a negative impact on the running of the operation.


  10. Interesting comment by the doctor.

    http://www.nationnews.com/articles/view/fear-big-issue-with-diabetics1/

    As we know Barbados is a diabetes country.


  11. Piece

    I must assume that those who are inimical of the DLP agenda here on BU, constitutes the minority opinion in Barbados? Because if the situation in Barbados has reached crisis point, then where is the voice of the student activist we saw during the Vietnam era? And the voice of the student activist who stood up against the totalitarian governments in South America during 1970’s and well into the early 80s? Where is the voice of the student activist in Barbados?


  12. David, if your fed a diet of starch for most of your life, chances are that it would kill your pancreas. I hope I have spell the last word correctly?


  13. Did someone say there is a chickengunya outbreak at UWI.? Quite a few students there are ill. Can BU readers shed any light on this?


  14. Piece

    Are you telling me that we now have a generation of Barbadians who lacks the moral-courage to stand against the moral-turipitudes of their political leaders?


  15. There is a way to minimize spraying… by focusing on where the epidemic is moving to next.
    The main problem is that currently there is no system in place that both gathers mosquito related data (infected or suspected cases, entomological reports, larvae detection, etc) and crunches that data to generate a prediction. And does it all in real time, not a week later as even CDC reports.
    Even less than 100% accurate prediction is — like weather forecasts — still better than no prediction at all. And if you combine all this with forecasts of rainfall, wind direction and velocity, etc. you can do even better, predicting the direction of the spread of the epidemic, allowing you to concentrate health workers and spraying in those neighborhoods of greatest risk.
    This capability is now available. Chikungunya has one species of mosquito in common with dengue, so you can start by using the prediction models for aedes aegyptii spread… and improve the forecasts for chikungunya as you go along by adding the other mosquito (albopictus).
    South Florida needs to implement a system such as this

    Please keep up your reporting on this serious issue.
    Thanks.
    Alicia Juarrero, PhD
    ajuarrero@vectoranalytica.com

  16. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ Dompey | October 6, 2014 at 7:59 AM |
    “Are you telling me that we now have a generation of Barbadians who lacks the moral-courage to stand against the moral-turipitudes of their political leaders..”

    Dompey, why are you using such a big phrase as ‘moral turpitudes’?
    Don’t you think you are getting a bit too big for your intellectual breeches? Don’t you think it would be more “efficacious” to your query by rephrasing your comment to read: ‘lies, deceit and corruption of their political leaders’?

    However, the short answer to your query is ‘Yes’. Now on whom does that reflect? The irrelevant educational system or the incestuous lying Church? But what can you expect from a society where bestiality is becoming rampant?

  17. Sunshine Sunny Shine Avatar
    Sunshine Sunny Shine

    I knew that this useless lot would have ended up doing this shite. And i also knew that the other useless lot if allowed to continue would have left the island far more bankrupt than it is now. So you put in stink after discarding nasty. And there are those who are die hard loyalist on both sides.The majority, if not all, are just as stink and nasty as two parties. So might as well go with the nasty BLP. The stench from this current party smells so bad that they can’t even talk.


  18. @ David,
    Yes BU’s core readership is the politician and media people. Go figure.
    One of these days we will publish the late David Thompson’s comments, makes for interesting insight………………………

    David,
    You keep promising, I am looking forward to this. By the way, was the dead king Bajan Panday? You can choose not to answer if you care not to answer! LOL!


  19. @Prodigal

    Do you have a copy of a bank account to share?


  20. THIS IS RELEVANT TO THE GRAZETTES ISSUE
    http://www.nospray.org/MalFctSh.shtml


  21. Interesting statement by parliamentary secretary Harry Husbands quoted in the media today the ministry of education will move ahead with the initiative to assign bursaries, no time frame for distribution given. It begs the question why the MoF and the MoE who sit in the same cabinet were not able to agree and in the process inspire confidence.


  22. David
    The answer lies in the leadership of the party.The PM cannot discipline meaningfully,any member of cabinet without raising the spectre of a dissolution of parliament.The electorate dealt a serious hand to PM Stuart so that he is between a rock and a hard place,and I think he likes it so.He seems to have an excuse for his indecisiveness.


  23. GP
    Pedro Shepherd appeared comfortable with his knowledge of Malathion.
    Your posting which is very much appreciated,should be an eye opener for all BU readers and opinion seekers.Thank you GP.


  24. GABRIEL
    i EXPECTED SUCH A RESPONSE FROM YOU OR LEMUEL OR CRUSOE.
    tHANKS
    I MAY EXPAND ON MY POST LATER


  25. Wherever Ronald Jones has gone……he has a phone and other gadgets……. he can call and defend himself in light of yesterday’s back page story, not leave it to Harry Husbands to tell more lies.

    Harry Husbands, I want to ask you a question……….do you know that the UWI semester started since the end of August? When will these imaginary bursaries be available?

    Do you Dems realise that even if by some stroke of luck you make some bursaries available but cutting back on some other essential area in education……………do you dumb bells realise that some may not even able to get the rest of the tuition fees as you dummies have sent home their parents?

    How much more dumb can you dems get?


  26. GABRIEL……as promised

    Re President Pedro Shepherd told ‘Barbados Today’ there are still questions about what chemicals were used in the fogging exercise that caused the lingering odour that has disrupted school since the beginning of the term…”I am told that the fogging staff of the Ministry of Health used about four or five chemicals mixed together, but they are only identifying one chemical – malathion. All they are saying is that they used malathion, which is an insecticide .

    Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Joy St John said this evening that the chemical mix that produces the fog used to kill the dengue and Chikungunya-carrying mosquitoes was as efficacious as it could be without being harmful to human health.”
    THE PHRASE “as efficacious as it could be without being harmful to human health” IS MOST INTERESTING.
    THE EFFICACY OF A DRUG OR TOXIN ISA MEASURE OF THE ABILITY OF THE DRUG OR TOXIN TO INTERACT WITH THE RECEPTORS FOR WHICH IT WAS DESIGNED TO INTERACT, AND TO BRING ABOUT THE DESIRED RESULT.
    So if I want to lower blood pressure using a beta blocker or beta antagonist, for the drug to be effective or efficacious, the drug must bind to the beta receptors in the heart and slow the heart rate. If I want to reduce the symptoms of acid heartburn/reflux I could use the H2 antagonist, Tagamet. This drug would bind to H2 receptors in the stomach and block the effect of stomach acids.
    In like manner the pesticide Malathion is a cholinesterase inhibitor. It is designed to block the activity of the enzyme cholinesterase, whose job is to regenerate acetyl choline at many nerve endings in the body after a nerve fires, so as to repolarize the nerve or make it ready to be fired again.
    At the levels that Malathion is supposed to be used it is thought to be non lethal to humans but deadly to insects. However, this agent is readily absorbed via the fat in the skin, and in large doses can be very harmful to humans-especially children.
    Consequently, the 3 questions asked by the author of this blog are very pertinent (this is probably the reason for the fumes experienced, and the Ministry’s actions.”.

    1-Are those who mix these chemicals infallible?
    2-Seeing it was just for one building, is it not possible that too much of one chemical was used?
    3-Is it not possible that someone got mixed up with the difference between litres and gallons?


  27. Georgie Porgie

    For a Barbadian doctor you have an extensive knowledge of medication therapy. Which is usually for most doctors I know but who am I to render an unqualified opinion. QUESTION: why would you use a beta blocker to slow down the heart rate when you could have used Digoxin?


  28. QUESTION: why would you use a beta blocker to slow down the heart rate when you could have used Digoxin?

    ANSWER QUESTION: THAT IS ONE OF THEIR EFFECTS.

    BY REDUCING HEART RATE BETA BLOCKERS INCREASE THE FILLING TIME AND RESULT IN AN INCREASED STROKE VOLUME. IN THIS WAY BETA BLOCKERS ALLOW THE HEART TO “REST” AND TO WORK MORE EFFECTIVELY WHILE RESULTING IN A LOWERING OF BLOOD PRESSURE

  29. John Hanson 1781-1782 Avatar
    John Hanson 1781-1782

    Hon Ronald Jones, Minister of Education – yet another controversy in education…@ is as ugly as he is stupid,Barbados can do much better


  30. Why has the minister jetted off to China at this time?

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