Top Picks || Arts & Entertainment || Business & Economy || Education & Society || Science & Technology || Sports & Fashion || Search || Back Numbers WATCH WHAT YOU EAT: Series of Random Poisoning Shocks Japan November 2, 1998 Beginning with a case of tainted curry in Wakayama Prefecture in summer 1998, Japan has been hit by a series of crimes involving the lacing of food and drinks with poisonous substances. The police are carrying out investigations in earnest, but solving these cases is no easy matter, and public anxiety is spreading. The string of incidents has raised difficult questions regarding the objectives of the criminals, the reason such cases spawn a chain reaction of similar crimes, and ways the chain reaction can be stopped. String of Copycat Crimes The first in this series of incidents took place in Wakayama Prefecture, in the Kansai region of Japan, on July 25, 1998. Some curry served at a local summer festival was laced with arsenic. Four people died in the incident, and more than 60 complained of food-poisoning symptoms. The following month, 10 employees of a timber processing company in Niigata Prefecture, in central Japan, fell sick after drinking tea laced with toxic sodium azide. Also in August, a fake slimming drink containing cresol was mailed to some middle school students and a teacher in Tokyo. Furthermore, in September one person died after drinking a cyanide-laced can of oolong tea that he had purchased at a supermarket in Nagano Prefecture. Each incident probably had a slightly different background, but the crime itself--lacing food and drinks with poisonous substances--is the same. Therefore, it is thought that the cases in Niigata and elsewhere were inspired by the incident in Wakayama. Japan has experienced this kind of series of similar poisoning crimes before. In 1977 two high school students died after drinking cyanide-laced cola that had been placed in a Tokyo telephone booth, and immediately afterward tainted confectionery was found at Tokyo Station. In 1984 cyanide-laced snack foods were placed in supermarkets in the Kansai, Tokai, and Kanto regions, with several hundred copycat crimes being recorded altogether. And in 1985 there was a spate of crimes across the country in which drinks laced with agricultural chemicals were put in vending machines; 13 people died in this chain of incidents. These imitation crimes may in a way be a sign of the times. The thrill and ease of carrying out such crimes, as well as the dramatic and heavy media coverage they receive, may appeal to some criminals. A poisoner may be the type of person who basks in self-glorification and gets a thrill from disturbing the public and spreading anxiety. String of Copycat Crimes Since the outbreak of the crimes, the central and local governments have taken steps to tighten their storage of toxic and volatile substances. Also, first-aid centers around the country have begun to prepare stocks of various antidotes. However, there are about 100,000 types of chemical substance in the world today, and 20% to 30% of these have some level of toxicity. Japan's law on the control of dangerous substances designates 91 substances as toxic and 347 as volatile. Thorough management of this many poisonous substances is next to impossible. Investigation of this sort of case comes up against various obstacles. If patients with poisoning symptoms appear, it is necessary to determine whether they are suffering from simple food poisoning or are the victims of a crime; and if it is determined that they are the victims of a crime, to specify the poisonous substance involved. In the Wakayama case, the initial investigation was slow because it was thought at first that group food poisoning was to blame. It was only later, after the discovery of arsenic during autopsies of the victims, that the cause of death was determined to be a criminal act. Another obstacle is the random nature of the crimes, which makes it difficult to pin down the criminal's motivations and character. Copycats who commit these crimes may feel safe in doing so when they see other perpetrators getting away with it. Making arrests and solving cases, experts agree, is the best way to put an end to such series of incidents. In October police arrested a couple in Wakayama suspected of poisoning people to claim insurance payments. They are investigating possible connections between this couple and the curry incident that sparked this year's rash of crimes. Although there have been a few poisoning incidents since the arrests were made, police are hopeful that they have seen the last of the wave of crimes. Hoping to put these poisonings behind them, people across Japan anxiously await word on how this case turns out. Back to Main Index Edited by Japan Echo Inc. based on domestic Japanese news sources. Articles presented here are offered for reference purposes and do not necessarily represent the policy or views of the Japanese Government. Ministry of Foreign Affairs   Japan Information Network