JACKSON COUNTY, Miss. (WPMI) - Nearly two dozen students and adults at a Jackson Co. elementary school got a visit from poison control officials Wednesday after the group mistook a chemical compound for candy, Jackson County Sheriff Mike Byrd said.
According to school officials, a young female student at St. Martin Upper Elementary school brought homemade crystals to class. The crystals were actually aluminum potassium sulfate, a chemical compound commonly found in antacids and laxatives. As a precaution, Byrd said, poison control was notified and 2 students had to be treated at a local hospital but were released.
Byrd said everyone will be fine.
"You don't really expect this young of an age to do that, so I was kind of surprised," said Kaylan Cuti, who knows the student responsible for the mix-up.
If ingested in large amounts, aluminum potassium sulfate could cause respiratory and digestive track irritation. A comparison to the popular crystal candy Pop Rocks shows some resemblance. Still, it's a case that's prompting many parents to remind their children of an age old lesson.
"We had that conversation on the way here, that's why you never take anything from anybody, except for, you know, us," Cuti's father Andy Sadler said.
