IT’S understood paramedics are checking students of the Butchers Creek State School, located near Malanda, for any possible side effects of the spray.

Emergency services were called to the site just after noon on Friday following reports of a “herbicide exposure”. The school is in lockdown, with students kept in their classrooms with windows and doors shut. They’re waiting for the all-clear from scientific expert crews, a Queensland Fire and Rescue spokesperson told AAP.

https://www.news.com.au/national/breaking-news/pesticide-scare-at-far-north-qld-school/story-e6frfku9-1227281351653

More than 40 staff and students were in lockdown about midday after pesticide sprayed from a helicopter on a nearby farm drifted over Butchers Creek State School.

Paramedics assessed staff and students for any signs of exposure to what was believed to be organophosphate, but gave them the all clear.

The pesticide is able to attack the nervous system, similar to the way chemical weapon sarin is used.

The students were believed to be in class at the time of the incident.