The Toxic Oil Syndrome in Spain

In the early 1980s, an estimated 20,000 people from central Spain were reported ill from Toxic Oil Syndrome. This intoxication illness caused the death of over 600 people. By the end of 1997, the death toll reached 1,800 cases. The officially held theory was that adulterated industrial oil was illegally imported from France in 1981, rerefined, and subsequently sold for human consumption in Spain. However, other studies pointed to the use of a plaguicide1 which contains organophosphates.