GIBSON, Ga. – Eight high school students fell ill and were taken to the hospital Friday after eating a large homemade cookie apparently contaminated with some kind of heavy metal, authorities said.
The students, ages 14 to 17, ate the chocolate chip cookie during a morning break and immediately became nauseated and complained of severe abdominal pain, burning throats and sweats, authorities said. Two were admitted to a hospital for observation.
The cookie had been brought in by a fellow student at Glascock Consolidated School (search) in Gibson, 110 miles southeast of Atlanta.
At McDuffie Regional Medical Center (search) in Thomson, the cookie was put through an X-ray machine, and it revealed what appeared to be "some sort of heavy metal substance," said hospital spokeswoman Debbie Jones.
"We don't know what was in the cookies," Jones said. "We don't know how to treat them."
The cookie was being taken to the state crime lab in Atlanta for further analysis, said John Bankhead of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (search).
Authorities were seeking permission from parents to interview the student who brought the cookie and others at the school. Bankhead said it had not been determined if the student intended to harm the others.
"The student had brought cookies to school before, and there were no problems," Bankhead said. "We're working feverishly to have the cookies tested."
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