Meet phosphine, a gas commonly used for industrial fumigation that can damage your lungs, heart and liver

Grain transported in cargo ships usually undergoes fumigation to kill pests − a process that often uses toxic phosphine gas. bfk92/E+ via Getty Images

In 1980, two children and 29 crew members aboard a grain freighter became ill. They had been exposed to phosphine – a chemical used in fumigation to kill pests in and on grain – for four days. In the end, one child died.

More recently, in 2024, a family in the Dominican Republic was poisoned with phosphine gas after fumigation of an apartment in their building. The goal had been to eliminate a woodworm infestation, but building management hadn’t notified residents. Two of the family members died.