Eckernförde disease

Eckernförde disease is the name given to poisoning with tricresyl phosphate (TKP) through the use of torpedo oil for food production. The name has been used since the winter of 1941/42 because of the accumulation of cases in and around Eckernförde and the initially unclear cause by doctors at the University Psychiatric Clinic Kiel (today as the "Clinic for Neurology " part of the University Clinic Schleswig-Holstein , UKSH). About 70 cases are mentioned in press reports.

Oil for the torpedoes of the Torpedoversuchsanstalt (TVA) Eckernförde (today Wehrtechnische Dienststelle (WTD) 71 ) was stolen and used privately as a substitute fat for frying and baking because of the food shortage in the war years. In some cases, the oil from natural products (e.g. from rapeseed or bones) was provided with TKP as an additive in order to keep the oil liquid even at low temperatures. As a neurotoxin, TKP triggers polyneuritis or polyneuropathy and leads to lifelong serious damage (e.g. movement disorders of the legs).

After the war ended in 1945, the British military government issued a warning against the consumption of torpedo oil. There was a further accumulation of such cases of poisoning in Kiel in 1944 and again in Eckernförde in 1949. Those affected tried in vain to obtain recognition as war victims with corresponding pension entitlements through legal action and petitions.

At the time of the First World War , torpedo oil was still being used as an edible oil without consequences, as the oil did not contain any additives at that time.

A similar case (use of oil mixed with tricresyl phosphate) led to the poisoning of oil soldiers in Switzerland in 1940 .

literature

Dirk Löffler: The "Eckernförde disease". In: Yearbook 2013 of the home community Eckernförde , ISSN 0179-8790 , pp. 265–276.

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c Excellent . In: Der Spiegel . No. 22 , 1982, pp. 54-59 ( online ). "An affair about poisoned oil, from which hundreds of Kiel residents - many of them incurable - fell ill in June 1945, is still a concern of the authorities and courts."

[spiegel-1] Excellent . In: Der Spiegel . No. 22 , 1982, pp. 54-59 ( online ). "An affair about poisoned oil, from which hundreds of Kiel residents - many of them incurable - fell ill in June 1945, is still a concern of the authorities and courts."