Poisonings' at Afghan girls' schools likely mass hysteria - not Taliban, says report

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A spate of apparent poisonings at girls' schools across Afghanistan is probably outbreaks of mass hysteria rather than a Taliban plot, according to the most comprehensive study yet of the phenomenon.

By By Ben Farmer

The World Health Organisation (WHO) working with the Afghan government has investigated attacks for more than three years but found "no conclusive evidence of deliberate poisoning". Thousands of girls have been taken ill at schools in that time, in incidents of mass fainting and vomiting. Pressure has mounted on Hamid Karzai's government to stop the apparent attacks as their frequency has increased in recent months. Pictures of girls being carried to ambulances, or hooked up to drips in provincial hospitals, have become an increasingly common sight. The symptoms are always short-lived. The incidents have been widely interpreted as a campaign by the Taliban or other insurgent hardliners to crackdown on girls' education. The Taliban have denied this. The WHO's preliminary findings put the body at odds with the Afghanistan's security forces who say they have become convinced the attacks are genuine and have arrested numerous suspected poisoners. Seven were arrested on Tuesday and several were said to have confessed already. Security officials have blamed neighbouring Pakistan and said the poisonings were an attempt to destabilise Afghanistan and weaken its future. The poisoning of school water tanks, or the use of a gas or noxious liquid have all been suggested as potential weapons. Many girls reported smelling a strange odour before they were overcome. However an analysis given to The Daily Telegraph of 32 such incidents, all but two at girls' schools, casts significant doubt on the poisoning theory. The WHO said it and the Afghan ministry of public health were "taking every step to address this menace in the interest of public health." "According to preliminary findings, incidents' analysis and the prevailing situation, Mass Psychological Illness is the most probable cause," a statement said. A child psychologist has been drafted in to study the incidents, sources added. Poisoning could not be ruled out without further tests, but after examining more than 200 laboratory samples of blood, urine and water so far, there was "no conclusive evidence of deliberate poisoning found". The fact that few teachers had been taken ill also argued against mass poisoning. Academics who have studied mass hysteria say it has occurred before in war zones, where tensions and uncertainty are high. Similar cases were reported in the Palestinian territories in 1983 to Soviet Georgia in 1989 and Kosovo in 1990. Peter Kinderman, professor of clinical psychology at the University of Liverpool, said: "People do follow the crowd in lots of ways and we are social animals. "When it comes to these mass anxiety attacks, there have been many throughout history." If people were already worried by rumours of gas attacks and someone nearby began to appear ill, then others could soon panic, hyperventilate and become ill themselves. "They symptoms can be very convincing because in a sense they are real," he said. Earlier smaller investigations by the Nato coalition have also undermined suggestions of poisoning. In April the coalition was called in to test water supplies after girls were taken ill at a high school in Takhar province. "Results concluded that naturally occurring bacterial contamination was responsible. No toxins were found in the water," said Brian Badura, a spokesman in the coalition's Kabul headquarters. Police said they remained convinced at least some of the attacks were genuine. The seven alleged poisoners held this week in Sar-e Pul province had employed a schoolgirl to take a chemical spray into class, said Siddique Siddiqi, spokesman for the Ministry of Interior. "We have initial proof these people were involved and we have confessions," he said. The hospitalisation of thousands of female students has had a devastating effect on education in several areas, as parents have kept their children from classes. Following two incidents in Ghazni, south west of the capital, schools were allegedly closed and 36,000 students stopped going to school for some time. "The uncertainties about the cause of these incidents and growing rumours have had a significant impact on education, and especially girls' education," the WHO said.