A woman’s death from poisoning prompts 2,500 Kerala temples to ban oleander flowers

The decision stems from the death of a 24-year-old woman on April 29 from suspected poisoning from oleander leaves, which she accidentally consumed at the courtyard of her house in Alappuzha.

On April 28, the woman, Surya Surendran, a nursing graduate, vomited and collapsed at Kochi International Airport before leaving for the UK, where she had secured a job as a nurse. She died at a hospital the next day.

Haripad police inspector K Abilash Kumar, who is probing the death, said the forensic surgeon indicated poisoning from oleander leaves. “She accidentally chewed some oleander leaves while she was speaking to someone over the phone at her house before leaving for the airport. We are awaiting a final report,” he said.

TDB president P S Prasanth Thursday said the board has decided to avoid the use of oleander flowers. “Instead, the devotees should offer other flowers such as tulsi, thechi and rose for naivedhya and prasadam. The same (oleander) flowers can be used for puja at temples. The decision is meant to ensure that oleander flowers do not reach the hands of devotees. The decision will be communicated to all assistant commissioners in the board, who will ensure that the particular flower is no longer used in these specific rituals,” he said.

Close on the heels of the TDB decision, MDB, which manages temples in North Kerala, followed suit. MDB chairman M R Murali said an order will be issued on Friday. “Oleander flowers are not widely used in our temples. But we have to consider the safety concerns and hence we decided to ban them,” he said.

Oleander is a commonly seen ornamental plant containing a cardiotoxic glycoside named oleandrin. Several forensic medical journals have reported cases of poisoning from ingestion of oleander leaves.