Mass hysteria blamed for Afghan schoolgirl 'poisoning,' not the Taliban The Afghan school girl 'poisonings' bear a striking resemblance to past cases of mass hysteria, particularly one in Palestine in 1983. By Dan Murphy , Staff writer July 9, 2012 The Taliban have been poisoning scores of Afghan schoolgirls for attending school, right? Wrong – at least that’s the position of the World Health Organization. Schoolgirls and teachers complaining of nausea and other symptoms have reported poisoned water supplies at at least 12 girls’ schools across Afghanistan since 2009. But there have been no fatalities, and despite extensive efforts by the UN's World Health Organization to get to the bottom of the matter no one has found proof of poison or any other organic cause. ———————————— Murphy, Dan (The Christian Science Monitor, July 9, 2012): "Mass hysteria blamed for Afghan schoolgirl 'poisoning,' not the Taliban". Available (1401/12/11) online at: https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Security-Watch/Backchannels/2012/0709/Mass-hysteria-blamed-for-Afghan-schoolgirl-poisoning-not-the-Taliban