10 students poisoned by wild plant  ( 2003-12-20 11:04) (Xinhua)     
 
 Medical workers in Shaanxi Province Friday called on school managers and 
parents to teach children more on preventing from food poisoning after 10 middle 
school students got poisoned by a ginseng-like wild plant they had taken. 
 The students, from Chong Huang Middle School in Gaoling County,tasted an 
unnamed plant which one of them brought to the classroomThursday noon and said 
it was ginseng. They just took a little of the plant because it was bitter and 
astringent, said one student. 
 One of them began to sick up at class at 1 pm and the nine others reported 
headache or stomach ache afterward. They were first sent to a clinic near the 
school and later transferred to the county hospital by 3:30 pm. 
 Three of them in comparatively serious condition had been sent to the central 
hospital in Xi'an, the provincial capital, for treatment, said doctors at the 
county hospital.
 
  
 
 
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