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From: DCHAS Membership Chair <membership**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines (15 articles)
Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2018 07:26:26 -0400
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
Message-ID: 58F4F18E-AB5E-4AC4-A19C-07E94C0215C7**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org
Article summaries are also available at http://pinboard.in/u:dchas
Table of Contents (15 articles)
NO ONE INJURED AFTER ‰??CHEMICAL SMELL‰?? AT HORNCHURCH SCIENCE LAB
Tags: United_Kingdom, laboratory, release, response, unknown_chemical
VICTIM OF ATHENS EXPLOSION SPEAKS OUT
Tags: us_OH, public, explosion, injury, natural_gas
EASTMAN OFFICIALS: 'WE WERE NOT QUICK ENOUGH IN GETTING INFORMATION OUT' ON DAY OF EXPLOSION
Tags: us_TN, industrial, follow-up, environmental
PANELLISTS CALL FOR CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT OF TSCA
Tags: us_DC, public, discovery, environmental
SCOTT VETOES TOXIC CHEMICALS BILL, FLUMMOXING SENATE LEADERS
Tags: us_VT, public, discovery, environmental, toxics
CHEMICAL ONCE USED IN WARFARE AT CENTRE OF CLEAN-UP
Tags: New_Zealand, public, release, response, pesticides
A RETIRED CHEMIST'S CHEMICALS CAUSED ROSEVILLE EVACUATION
Tags: us_CA, public, discovery, response, unknown_chemical
MAN KILLED IN APARTMENT 'EXPLOSIVES LABORATORY'
Tags: us_WI, laboratory, explosion, death, explosives
WEST FERTILIZER PLANT EXPLOSION: FIVE YEARS LATER
Tags: us_TX, industrial, follow-up, environmental, ag_chems
LOCAL DRIVER LEAVES GAS STATION WITH PUMP STILL ATTACHED TO VEHICLE, PROMPTS HAZMAT ISSUE
Tags: us_GA, public, release, response, gasoline
SRI LANKA LATEST BREAKING NEWS AND HEADLINES
Tags: Sri_Lanka, laboratory, fire, response, unknown_chemical
TEN TREATED FOR CARBON MONOXIDE POISONING IN CLAREMONT
Tags: us_NH, public, release, injury, carbon_monoxide
GROUNDWATER BILL MOVES FORWARD IN NH LEGISLATURE
Tags: us_NH, public, discovery, environmental, other_chemical
CHEMICAL IN FAYETTEVILLE'S TAP WATER MAY CAUSE CANCER
Tags: us_NC, public, discovery, environmental, other_chemical
BILL WHITAKER: WEST RECOVERY FIVE YEARS AFTER DEADLY BLAST INCLUDES HEARTENING WORDS OF ADVOCACY
Tags: us_TX, public, follow-up, environmental, ammonium_nitrate
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NO ONE INJURED AFTER ‰??CHEMICAL SMELL‰?? AT HORNCHURCH SCIENCE LAB
https://www.time1075.net/no-one-injured-after-chemical-smell-at-hornchurch-science-lab/
Tags: United_Kingdom, laboratory, release, response, unknown_chemical
The London Fire Brigade has confirmed that no one was injured following a ‰??chemical smell‰?? in Hornchurch today.
Crews were called to Inskip Drive to reports of a smell at a disused science lab.
150 people had to be evacuated from their properties and a safety cordon was set up.
20 firefighters attended the incident just before 1.30pm and it has now been stood down.
Upminster Road was closed in both directions between Wingletye Lane and Inskip Drive.
A number of buses are on diversion.
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VICTIM OF ATHENS EXPLOSION SPEAKS OUT
https://www.athensnews.com/news/local/victim-of-athens-explosion-speaks-out/article_9c493eae-426f-11e8-b093-6f012618e47f.html
Tags: us_OH, public, explosion, injury, natural_gas
Brandon Jones, 21, walked into the kitchen of his girlfriend's apartment at 104 W. Union St. (above Cycle Path Bicycles) in Athens late Sunday afternoon, and turned on the natural gas-fired stove.
As soon as the stove burner ignited, Jones told The NEWS on the phone from the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center Tuesday, ‰??the entire place blew up.‰??
‰??The air caught fire; it was horrible,‰?? Jones relayed (he was the only one injured in the explosion Sunday). ‰??I was trapped in there, and at one point I just gave up and started screaming because I thought I was going to die in there‰?| If it wasn‰??t for the building collapsing and letting air in, I would have died. I was able to get out onto Thai Paradise‰??s roof, and I think I yelled to call an ambulance, then I passed out.‰??
Jones has second-degree burns on his face, neck, arms and hands as a result of the explosion, his girlfriend, Ohio University student Haley Schaefer, 20, said Tuesday in a phone call from the hospital (here's a link to their GoFundMe page).
Jones said that he and Schaefer, had been smelling gas ‰??here and there‰?? for about a week up until the incident, but the smell didn‰??t become particularly strong until Sunday.
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EASTMAN OFFICIALS: 'WE WERE NOT QUICK ENOUGH IN GETTING INFORMATION OUT' ON DAY OF EXPLOSION
http://www.wjhl.com/local/eastman-officials-we-were-not-quick-enough-in-getting-information-out-on-day-of-explosion/1127765761
Tags: us_TN, industrial, follow-up, environmental
For the first time, at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, Eastman Chemical Company officials said they didn't do a good enough job communicating with the public when a massive explosion rattled the plant last October.
Company officials also answered questions for the first time since a state report cleared Eastman of any wrong-doing related to the blast.
The Tennessee Department of Environment report is complete. Eastman will not face fines because of the explosion that stunned the city last October.
But Eastman officials said, the company has enacted changes so mistakes aren't repeated.
"We were not quick enough in getting information out. This included not just the city, and the county, and the media, but it included our own employees that day," said David Golden, Senior Vice President, Chief Legal & Sustainability Officer, and Corporate Secretary for Eastman Chemical Company.
Eastman Chemical Company admitted what they should have done better after explosions on their property back on October 4th, 2017.
On that date, Eastman said they advised for a shelter in place across the city of Kingsport. People were even told to turn off their air conditioners, raising public fears.
Looking back, Golden said that wasn't a necessary move.
"That's one piece that we looked at and we will do better going forward to be more precise in our instruction for shelter in place," said Golden.
Other changes, Eastman says, also followed in the months since.
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PANELLISTS CALL FOR CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT OF TSCA
https://chemicalwatch.com/66015/panellists-call-for-congressional-oversight-of-tsca
Tags: us_DC, public, discovery, environmental
A legislative briefing in Washington, DC last week heard panellists call on Congress to exercise oversight of the US EPA‰??s implementation of the new TSCA law, which public health advocates say has been inconsistent with the statute.
Organised by the University of California at San Francisco's programme on reproductive health and the environment, the 12 April legislative briefing heard panellists from NGOs, academia and health organisations.
Chief among the concerns raised is the agency‰??s exclusion of certain conditions of use in a substance‰??s TSCA risk evaluation. This is consistent with ongoing litigation brought by a coalition of NGOs.
Eve Gartner, a staff attorney at Earthjustice, strongly urged Congress to "let EPA know that anything less than a comprehensive approach to risk evaluation across a chemical‰??s lifecycle ‰?? with a particular focus on vulnerable populations ‰?? is not consistent with TSCA."
She said the current administration‰??s leadership is ignoring Congressional intent to assess all conditions of use and is instead "asserting unfettered discretion to exclude those that are known or foreseeable from risk evaluations". And it is "defying" Congress‰??s direction for a risk evaluation to cover exposures resulting from an ongoing use or disposal.
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SCOTT VETOES TOXIC CHEMICALS BILL, FLUMMOXING SENATE LEADERS
https://www.sevendaysvt.com/OffMessage/archives/2018/04/17/scott-vetoes-toxic-chemicals-bill-flummoxing-senate-leaders
Tags: us_VT, public, discovery, environmental, toxics
Vermont Senate leaders expressed surprise and disappointment Tuesday morning after Gov. Phil Scott vetoed a bill designed to protect children from toxic chemicals in consumer products. Scott‰??s veto was the first of the 2018 legislative session.
The legislation, S.103, would have given the commissioner of the Vermont Department of Health expanded power to enter products into a state-run database if they contain toxins that may harm children. It also would have made that database publicly searchable by products‰?? bar codes.
In a statement announcing his decision Monday, Scott said he opposes the bill because it wouldn‰??t improve Vermont‰??s already high consumer safety laws, which were last updated in 2014, as well as put a harmful burden on businesses and manufacturers.
‰??These [proposed] changes, in my opinion, have no practical impact to how my Administration regulates these chemicals,‰?? he said.
In a letter to the Senate about the veto, Scott said he was concerned that the bill would ‰??jeopardize jobs and make Vermont less competitive for businesses.‰??
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CHEMICAL ONCE USED IN WARFARE AT CENTRE OF CLEAN-UP
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/chemical-once-used-warfare-centre-clean
Tags: New_Zealand, public, release, response, pesticides
A spill involving a chemical used as a poison gas in World War 1 resulted in Dunedin firefighters donning Hazmat suits before entering an Outram property.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand East Otago assistant area commander Craig Geddes said crews were called at 3.30pm on Sunday after a man at a Mountfort St property accidentally smashed a small vial containing chloropicrin.
The chemical had been used in the past as a soil fumigant and rabbit poison, but had historically been deployed in chemical warfare, he said.
Mr Geddes said Outram Volunteer Fire Brigade Chief Fire Officer Stu Casey made the decision to escalate the response based on the advice of chemistry experts. Dunedin's hazardous material (Hazmat) command truck was called in, along with pumps from St Kilda and Dunedin.
``He did a great job,'' Mr Geddes said of Mr Casey.
Fire crews donned level-4 gas suits, the highest level of protection available. They then set about isolating, identifying, recovering and disposing of the poisonous chemical.
---------------------------------------------
A RETIRED CHEMIST'S CHEMICALS CAUSED ROSEVILLE EVACUATION
http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article209078954.html
Tags: us_CA, public, discovery, response, unknown_chemical
Roseville residents evacuated late Monday afternoon were allowed to go home after police and fire crews dealt with a hazardous materials incident involving chemicals found in a garage on Quails Nest Street.
"Update: Residents are now able to return to their homes" the Roseville Fire Department wrote on Facebook. "The Roseville HazMat team will remain on scene for a period of time to assist the home owners. Thank you to all of the residents for their patience."
The department explained that a resident in the 1000 block of Quails Nest "recently had a family member (a retired chemist) who lived out of the area who passed away. The deceased family member's belongings were brought to the residents home here in Roseville."
"As the homeowners began going through the boxes they found chemicals that were unknown to them and called the fire department. Chemicals can degrade over time and become unstable," the department said on Facebook.
---------------------------------------------
MAN KILLED IN APARTMENT 'EXPLOSIVES LABORATORY'
http://www.mycentraloregon.com/2018/04/14/man-killed-in-apartment-explosives-laboratory/
Tags: us_WI, laboratory, explosion, death, explosives
iStock/Thinkstock(BEAVER DAM, Wis.) ‰?? A Wisconsin man blew himself up inside his apartment, which was allegedly loaded with white supremacist literature, weapons, explosives and highly volatile chemicals.
Investigators say Benjamin Morrow, 28, was found lifeless underneath his electric kitchen stove inside his unit at Village Glen Apartments in Beaver Dam last month. They also pulled from the rubble white supremacist literature, long guns and pistols, ammo, a large capacity magazine, and explosives, according to an unsealed warrant according to a report in ABC News station WISN.
It‰??s alleged that Morrow also hoarded 13 medium-sized jars of traicetone triperoxide or ‰??TATP explosive material‰?? in in the fridge inside the kitchen, which the warrant claimed doubled as an ‰??explosives laboratory,‰?? according to Wisconsin crime investigator Kevin Heimerl‰??s warrant application.
The contents of Morrow‰??s unit were considered to be so ‰??highly volatile‰?? that officials decided to destroy the entire 16-unit structure in a controlled fire.
---------------------------------------------
WEST FERTILIZER PLANT EXPLOSION: FIVE YEARS LATER
http://www.wfmynews2.com/article/news/local/west-fertilizer-plant-explosion-five-years-later/500-540247815
Tags: us_TX, industrial, follow-up, environmental, ag_chems
Tuesday marks five years since an intentionally-set fire caused an explosion at the West Fertilizer Company in the small town of West, TX, killing 15 people, injuring more than 260 and damaging hundreds of homes.
The facility exploded at 7:51 p.m. CST -- roughly 20 minutes after the fire was first reported to emergency dispatchers. Firefighters from a handful of Central Texas volunteer fire departments had already responded to the initial fire when the building exploded. Twelve first responders were among those killed.
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LOCAL DRIVER LEAVES GAS STATION WITH PUMP STILL ATTACHED TO VEHICLE, PROMPTS HAZMAT ISSUE
http://www.wrbl.com/news/local-news/local-driver-leaves-gas-station-with-pump-still-attached-to-vehicle-prompts-hazmat-issue/1123255616
Tags: us_GA, public, release, response, gasoline
HARRIS COUNTY- Crews responded to a hazmat gas spill situation.
This, after a customer pulled off from the gas station with the pump still attached to the vehicle.
Crews say it happened Sunday around 2:30 PM at the BR&R Corner Store on Georgia Highway 85.
After the incident, the pump kept running, flowing into the parking lot and then down into a tunnel connected to a roadside drainage ditch full of water from the recent rainfall.
Personnel from the store placed some materials down to slow the flow into the tunnel.
Units with Columbus Fire and EMS Department also responded to the scene.
---------------------------------------------
SRI LANKA LATEST BREAKING NEWS AND HEADLINES
http://www.dailymirror.lk/article/Fire-breaks-out-in-Karapitiya-Hospital-148669.html
Tags: Sri_Lanka, laboratory, fire, response, unknown_chemical
A fire broke out at the main laboratory of the Karapitiya Teaching Hospital in Galle this evening, the Police said.
They said no casualties were reported in the fire and the damage caused to the properties had not been evaluated yet.
Meanwhile, speaking to Daily Mirror, Hospital Director Dr. Jayampathy Senanayake said fire had erupted in a room attached to the hospital laboratory.
However, the fire has been doused by the firefighting units preventing further damage.
Several equipment and machines in the room had been damaged in the fire.
Dr. Senanayake said the fire could have been erupted due to an electric short circuit in one of machines in the room.
---------------------------------------------
TEN TREATED FOR CARBON MONOXIDE POISONING IN CLAREMONT
http://www.newhampshire.com/public-safety/ten-treated-for-carbon-monoxide-poisoning-in-claremont--20180413
Tags: us_NH, public, release, injury, carbon_monoxide
CLAREMONT ‰?? Ten people, including police, fire and ambulance workers were treated for carbon monoxide poisoning after emergency workers were called to a Belding Street home Thursday night.
When emergency workers arrived at 26 Belding St. for a medical call about 11:35 p.m., they found three residents showing signs of carbon monoxide poisoning and highly elevated levels of carbon monoxide in the home.
The three residents and two visiting friends were taken to area hospitals. A police officer, two firefighters and two EMS workers also were taken to the hospital for treatment, the state Fire Marshal‰??s Office said in a release Friday morning.
An investigation into the cause of the incident is underway, according to the release.
---------------------------------------------
GROUNDWATER BILL MOVES FORWARD IN NH LEGISLATURE
http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/20180412/groundwater-bill-moves-forward-in-nh-legislature
Tags: us_NH, public, discovery, environmental, other_chemical
CONCORD -- A bill that would require the state Department of Environmental Services to set ambient groundwater quality standards for two additional PFAS chemicals passed the House Thursday.
Senate Bill 309, if signed into law, would require DES to set ambient groundwater quality standards for perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), and perfluorohexanesulfonic acid (PFHxS). Both of the chemicals have impacted two local communities.
People exposed to contaminated water at the city of Portsmouth‰??s Haven well found that when their blood was tested typically PFHxS tested at the highest levels. PFNA has been found at high levels in Berry‰??s Brook in Greenland adjacent the Coakley landfill, a Superfund cleanup site.
The bill has previously passed the Senate and now heads to the House Finance Committee.
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CHEMICAL IN FAYETTEVILLE'S TAP WATER MAY CAUSE CANCER
http://www.fayobserver.com/news/20180414/chemical-in-fayettevilles-tap-water-may-cause-cancer
Tags: us_NC, public, discovery, environmental, other_chemical
Fayetteville‰??s public drinking water does not contain GenX, but another chemical that is just as troubling ‰?? a likely carcinogen known as 1,4 dioxane ‰?? has been detected in greater concentrations in city water over the past year.
Water from the city‰??s Public Works Commission has contained 1,4 dioxane at levels exceeding a federal health advisory every year since the threshold was set in 2013. The PWC, like several other utilities in the state, gets most of its water from the Cape Fear River.
The PWC recently released its annual water quality report for 2017, which concludes that ‰??recent tests confirm GenX is not in PWC drinking water.‰??
But 1,4 dioxane in drinking water is just as concerning as GenX, said Kemp Burdette, a Cape Fear Riverkeeper from Wilmington.
‰??I hate to kind of like pick which is worse when they are both pretty bad,‰?? Burdette said. ‰??I would say I‰??m equally concerned about both of them.‰??
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BILL WHITAKER: WEST RECOVERY FIVE YEARS AFTER DEADLY BLAST INCLUDES HEARTENING WORDS OF ADVOCACY
http://www.wacotrib.com/opinion/columns/bill_whitaker/bill-whitaker-west-recovery-five-years-after-deadly-blast-includes/article_f1016b54-57f3-595b-95b5-1f9ae527c6c5.html
Tags: us_TX, public, follow-up, environmental, ammonium_nitrate
Only a few questions were leveled at West Mayor Tommy Muska and other panelists on the Waco Hippodrome stage after Tuesday‰??s big-screen showing of ‰??The Day West Shook Texas‰?? on occasion of the approaching fifth anniversary of the West Fertilizer Company explosion, but that was understandable. Many in the audience were from West. Most knew the answers.
And not everything raised was a question. Someone proposed a shout-out to the Czech Republic, which helped this Central Texas town of vibrant Czech heritage to the tune of $200,000 after the deadly 2013 ammonium nitrate blast. Another inquired if anyone was faithfully compiling ‰??the miracles that came that night,‰?? a reference to the twists of fate that saved some lives in the earth-shaking, magnitude-2.1 calamity. And a graying resident whose home was impacted graciously excused the gradual development of West neighborhoods near the old fertilizer plant as ‰??just a human error‰?? in planning and zoning that transpired over a couple of generations of city leadership.
Someone requested a moment of silence, which fit perfectly with West native Jim Gerik‰??s uplifting 2015 documentary film. Amid homespun testimonials of explosion, death and destruction, he and film editor Chuck Venable repeatedly interwove a choir singing church hymns. The themes of rebirth and transformation in an environment of Christian faith in rural America are impossible to miss, complete with celebrations of community fundraisers, small-town resurrection and heroic volunteer firefighters.
Yet Gerik on stage Tuesday night alluded to something only hinted at in the film he shot a few years ago: the need for his hometown brethren to make the deaths of 15 people ‰?? 12 of them first responders ‰?? and the destruction of a quarter of the town count for more than a compelling tale of Americana. He meant taking steps to ensure a similar catastrophe doesn‰??t claim yet other lives, devastate yet other families, leave yet other neighborhoods in ruins: ‰??People need to talk about this because this can happen again.‰??
Indeed. One questioner asked if the Texas Legislature had fully considered the mayhem and death in West ‰?? struck by a force five times that of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing ‰?? in forging laws to prevent this catastrophe from happening to residents in another town with similar agricultural priorities. John Crowder, pastor of First Baptist Church of West, noted the state‰??s strengthening of site inspections: ‰??The inspections were probably not as frequent and accurate as they needed to be, so there was some progress made in inspections. But many of us feel like the important issues have not yet been addressed.‰??
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