The Taipei District Prosecutors Office said Thursday it is investigating whether adulterants in synthetic drugs may have been the cause of the recent poisoning and hospitalisation of a young Australian man.

The probe into whether 24-year-old Alex Shorey ingested the rat poison “superwarfarin” through contaminated drugs was launched in response to recent media reports on the topic, and will be led by the office’s chief drug prosecutor, the office said in a statement.

The investigation comes after Taiwan’s United Daily News published a letter on Monday by physician Tao Hung-yang, which argued that Shorey’s condition may have been caused by contaminated synthetic marijuana products.

In the piece, Tao cited reports of similar poisonings in the United States, as well as a statement by the US Food and Drug Administration warning that some producers of illegal synthetic drugs add brodifacoum (superwarfarin) because it is thought to extend the duration of the drug euphoria or “high.”

Accidental consumption of rat poison in other contexts is extremely rare among adults, Tao said, though there are occasionally cases involving children or wild animals.

Tao said it was imperative to find out whether the case was related to contaminated drugs, in order to learn where they came from and ensure that other people aren’t poisoned.

Shorey, a native of Toowoomba in southern Queensland, was a student in a Chinese language programme at New Taipei’s Tamkang University from last September through February of this year.

In mid-April, he was admitted to Taipei Medical University Hospital (TMUH) with symptoms including nausea, vomiting, nosebleeds, bloody urine and coagulation disorders.

Doctors determined that he had likely been poisoned by superwarfarin, an anticoagulant rodenticide, and after suffering an allergic reaction to his initial treatment, doctors adjusted his medication and his condition began to stabilise.

Members of Shorey’s family speculated that he may have ingested the poison through food he had eaten, possibly at a local street market.

According to TMUH, however, Shorey told doctors that his condition was unlikely to be related to street food he consumed, although he was still puzzled as to how he had been exposed to the poison.

Shorey left Taiwan Wednesday on a medical evacuation flight bound for Australia, where he is expected to continue receiving treatment at a hospital in his native Queensland.

Shorey’s father spoke with investigators Wednesday in relation to the case, the prosecutors’ office said.

https://focustaiwan.tw/society/202305040012

Category: Taiwan