Pont-Saint-Esprit
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Pont-Saint-Esprit (Occitan Lo Pònt Sant Esperit) is a commune in the Gard département in southern France.
The commune is situated on the Rhône River and is the site of a historical crossing, hence its name.
The Ardèche River flows into the Rhône, just to the north of the bridge.
The residents are called Spiripontains.
Bouvier Family Origins
Pont-Saint-Esprit is famous as the town of origin of Michel Bouvier, a cabinetmaker, who was the ancestor of John Vernou Bouvier III, father of Jacqueline Kennedy.
1951 mass-poisoning
An outbreak of disease marked by acute psychotic episodes and various physical symptoms occurred in summer 1951 in Pont-Saint-Esprit, which caused more than 250 cases, 7 deaths, and 50 persons interned in asylums. The alimentary intoxications, which affected other parts of France but were the most serious in Pont-Saint-Esprit, were traced to "damned bread" (pain maudit). Among the possible causes of the incident are mass-poisoning via ergotism or due to consumption of seeds treated with mercury.
As Dr. Simon Cotton (member of the Chemistry Department of Uppingham School, U.K.) notes, there have been numerous cases of mass poisoning due to consumption of mercury-treated seeds:
More horrifying than this were epidemics of poisoning, caused by people eating treated seed grains. There was a serious epidemic in Iraq in 1956 and again in 1960, whilst use of seed wheat (which had been treated with a mixture of C2H5HgCl and C6H5HgOCOCH3) for food, caused the poisoning of about 100 people in West Pakistan in 1961. Another outbreak happened in Guatemala in 1965. Most serious was the disaster in Iraq in 1971-2, when according to official figures 459 died. Grain had been treated with methyl mercury compounds as a fungicide and should have been planted. Instead it was sold for milling and made into bread. It had been dyed red as a warning and also had warning labels in English and Spanish that no one could understand.
In a 2009 book, journalist Hank P. Albarelli Jr alleges (based on official US government documents) that the CIA tested the use of LSD as a war weapon on the population of Pont-Saint-Esprit as part of their MKULTRA program. Albarelli states that Sandoz was covertly producing LSD for the CIA at the time that Sandoz scientists pointed the finger at ergot or mercury.
