From: "ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety Secretary" <secretary**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU
Sent: Wednesday, July 27, 2016 5:04:03 AM
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines from Google (12 articles)
Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Wednesday, July 27, 2016 at 6:03:49 AM
A membership benefit of the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety
All article summaries and tags are archived at https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__pinboard.in_u-3Adchas&d=DQIFaQ&c=lb62iw4YL4RFalcE2hQUQealT9-RXrryqt9KZX2qu2s&r=meWM1Buqv4IQ27AlK1OJRjcQl09S1Zta6YXKalY_Io0&m=Nt4fODBP62ba_-a0D7KACKQaMUsvsYsMtPL0uGkz6V8&s=G-qhVkINXkjiXelVy5hq1QyWKIt2JRtY3gN7O3zMt84&e=
Table of Contents (12 articles)
CHEMICAL RELEASE FORCES PART OF SHIP CHANNEL TO CLOSE
Tags: us_TX, transportation, release, response, sulfur_dioxide
HAZMAT TEAM DEPLOYED AFTER HOUSE THERMOMETER BREAKS, LEAKING MERCURY
Tags: Malaysia, public, release, response, mercury
$5M WORTH OF DAMAGE IN CLEARFIELD LAB COMPLEX FIRE
Tags: us_UT, industrial, fire, injury, unknown_chemical
ENVIRO GROUP: HILEX POLY ISN'T REPORTING CHEMICAL DATA TO FEDS
Tags: us_ID, industrial, discovery, environmental, toxics
THE POLLUTION IN PEOPLE: FLAME RETARDANTS IN GYMNASTS
Tags: public, discovery, environmental, other_chemical
PORTER HAZMAT INVESTIGATING CHEMICAL ON IND. 49
Tags: us_IN, public, release, injury, unknown_chemical
ADEM: "LIMITED RESOURCES" PREVENTS TESTING OF TOXIC CHEMICAL STO
Tags: us_AL, public, discovery, environmental
LEGIONNAIRES' OUTBREAKS IN FLINT LINKED TO CORROSIVE TAP WATER
Tags: us_MI, public, follow-up, environmental, corrosives
OFFICIALS WARN OF SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION RISK OF LINSEED OIL AND OTHER COMMON HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTS
Tags: us_MD, public, discovery, environmental, other_chemical
FIREFIGHTER SUFFERS HEART ATTACK BATTLING BLAZE IN ENGLISHTOWN
Tags: us_NJ, industrial, fire, response, ammonium_persulfate, dye
JUDGE: EMERGENCY RESPONDERS CAN SUE OVER TRAIN DISASTER
Tags: us_TN, transportation, follow-up, environmental, acrylonitrile, cyanide, plastics, toxics
SHELTER IN PLACE ISSUED FOR GALENA PARK DUE TO CHEMICAL RELEASE
Tags: us_TX, industrial, release, response, sulfur_dioxide
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CHEMICAL RELEASE FORCES PART OF SHIP CHANNEL TO CLOSE
Tags: us_TX, transportation, release, response, sulfur_dioxide
GALENA PARK, Texas - A shelter in place has been lifted for the city of Galena Park. Authorities issued the warning due to a sulfur dioxide release at Pasadena Refining.
The Houston Ship Channel was also shut down from Kinder-Morgan ship dock 4 to the Magellan Turn Basin, about one mile in distance. The channel is now open.
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HAZMAT TEAM DEPLOYED AFTER HOUSE THERMOMETER BREAKS, LEAKING MERCURY
Tags: Malaysia, public, release, response, mercury
KUALA LUMPUR: The Fire and Rescue Department's hazardous material (Hazmat) team was deployed to a house in Jalan Dutamas to contain mercury exposure, after a thermometer in the house broke, last night.
City Fire and Rescue Department operation chief Samsol Maarif Saibani said the department were alerted to the emergency at 8.43pm.. They despatched 11 firemen to the scene.
"A thermometer fell on the floor and shattered, exposing the house's occupants to mercury," he said in a statement.
The team contained the exposure and successfully decontaminated the house.
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$5M WORTH OF DAMAGE IN CLEARFIELD LAB COMPLEX FIRE
Tags: us_UT, industrial, fire, injury, unknown_chemical
A quick-moving fire destroyed a Clearfield mineral food supplement manufacturing laboratory complex late Monday, forcing temporary evacuation of several dozen nearby mobile homes as heavy smoke filled the skies.
North Davis Fire District spokesman Mark Sessions said the cause of the fire remained under investigation on Tuesday, but he indicated arson was not suspected.
The 4:50 p.m. Monday, five-alarm blaze caused an estimated $5 million in losses to the 16,500-square-foot Balchem Corp./Albion Minerals site, located on the corner of Main and Center Streets.
In addition to North Davis firefighters, crews from several neighboring cities helped battle the flames. Half a dozen firefighters reportedly were treated at the hospital for minor smoke inhalation and heat exhaustion, then released.
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ENVIRO GROUP: HILEX POLY ISN'T REPORTING CHEMICAL DATA TO FEDS
Tags: us_ID, industrial, discovery, environmental, toxics
JEROME - The Idaho Conservation League has sent Novolex notices of the environmental group's intent to sue in 60 days if the company doesn't comply with federal requirements to report information on toxic chemicals it uses to a publicly accessible federal database.
Novolex has packaging manufacturing subsidiaries across the country, including Hilex Poly, a plastic-bag manufacturer with a plant in Jerome.
ICL spokesman Austin Hopkins said the environmental group became aware, after reviewing an air-quality permit the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality issued for the Jerome plant, that the company hadn=E2=80™t been submitting data to the federal Environmental Protection Agency's Toxics Release Inventory database.
Then, Hopkins said, the group looked at other Novolex facilities and found 17 that weren't in compliance with the regulations that require companies to submit data yearly on releases of toxic chemicals.
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THE POLLUTION IN PEOPLE: FLAME RETARDANTS IN GYMNASTS
Tags: public, discovery, environmental, other_chemical
A new study bolstered evidence that gymnasts are highly exposed to fire retardant chemicals in landing mats and foam cubes in landing pits used to practice tumbling and vaults.
Courtney Carignan and colleagues from Boston, Harvard and Duke universities measured concentrations of fire retardant chemicals in 11 elite gymnasts. The team found that the gymnasts had elevated exposures to several flame retardant chemicals, including chemicals linked to hormone disruption and cancer.
Exposure to several chemicals increased shortly after gymnastics practice and decreased hours later, pointing to gyms as a source of exposure. This study builds upon prior work by the researchers, showing elevated concentrations of another class of flame retardants, known as PBDEs, in gymnasts.
Over the past several decades, companies have added these and other chemical flame retardants to foam and electronics.There is growing concern about the harmful effects of many of these chemicals, in addition to evidence that they have done little to make products fire resistant.
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PORTER HAZMAT INVESTIGATING CHEMICAL ON IND.. 49
Tags: us_IN, public, release, injury, unknown_chemical
PORTER - Porter County's HAZMAT team was investigating Tuesday night after an unknown chemical substance found along Ind. 49 sent a fire chief and police officer to the hospital after they became lightheaded, Porter Police Chief Jamie Spanier said.
Spanier said law enforcement received a report just before 4 p.m. The caller phoned in what they suspected to be a large amount of antifreeze on Ind. 49 between U.S. 12 and U.S. 20 just south of the Indiana Dunes State Park.
Upon arrival, police and fire officials determined the green chemical spill was not antifreeze once the Porter fire chief and a local police officer became lightheaded.
Police sent out an emergency alert Tuesday notifying people to stay away from the area as a precaution, he said. Area residents were advised to stay indoors and shut windows while emergency officials investigate, he said.
The police and fire official were released from the hospital Tuesday night, Spanier said.
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ADEM: "LIMITED RESOURCES" PREVENTS TESTING OF TOXIC CHEMICAL STO
Tags: us_AL, public, discovery, environmental
MOBILE, AL (WALA) -
The Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) has admitted to FOX10 News it doesn't always test the toxic chemicals stored in the massive tank farms in Mobile County, and relies on the companies to report them on-their-honor.
According to an email sent to FOX10 News, when an ADEM inspector checks out a tank farm, that person routinely uses the facility's records of the toxic chemicals stored in the tanks to make sure the facility is storing the properly permitted chemicals, and does not test the material to make sure the facilities are operating honestly.
ADEM wrote, "inspectors routinely use facility records review to verify that tanks store only materials allowed to be stored."
The agency went on to explain, "the department's limited resources do not enable us to sample each of the thousands of tanks regulated...and...for the liquids' characteristics to be determined by laboratory analysis."
This comes after a FOX10 News special report, "Chemicals Exposed," uncovered potentially dangerous gaps in federal regulations for those petrochemical storage companies.
The investigation exposed a lack of checks and balances with a federal chemical reporting system, known as Tier Two reports, where companies are required to report on-their-honor what chemicals they are storing.
Local emergency responders rely on Tier Two reports to tell them what hazardous chemicals are at the tank farms.
So that way, if a fire, explosion, or any other emergency were to occur there, the responders would be properly prepared.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said it can only inspect 100 out of some 450 facilities a year to verify the integrity of Tier Two reports in the south east - so many tank farms go unchecked.
FOX10 News found one local tank farm, Arc Terminals, did not report its storage of the dangerous chemical, sulfuric acid, in 2015.
Because of that, Arc Terminals corrected its Tier Two report.
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LEGIONNAIRES' OUTBREAKS IN FLINT LINKED TO CORROSIVE TAP WATER
Tags: us_MI, public, follow-up, environmental, corrosives
The tainted water crisis in Flint, Mich., didn't just poison children with lead; it also likely contributed to two outbreaks of Legionnaires' disease, according to a new study (Environ. Sci. Technol. Lett. 2016, DOI: 10.1021/acs.estlett..6b00192). When Flint switched its drinking water source in 2014 from Lake Huron to the Flint River, the corrosive river water created ideal growth conditions for deadly Legionella bacteria. The first to link pipe corrosion to risk of disease at the community scale, the study is a wake-up call to the many cities failing to address corrosion in their aging water pipes.
Legionnaires' disease is a deadly pneumonia caused by inhaling Legionella pneumophila or other species of Legionella bacteria that lurk in the organic matter lining drinking water pipes. The disease has been on the rise in the U.S., with cases quadrupling over the last 10 years. Headline-grabbing outbreaks often occur from a contaminated ventilation or hot water system in a hospital, and that's where monitoring and prevention efforts have been focused.
Yet the majority of Legionnaires' disease cases in the U.S. arise in private homes with no common link other than their water supply, underscoring that drinking water distribution systems are the ultimate source of outbreaks. "Furthermore, lab-scale type studies have illustrated that corrosion in drinking water pipes can stimulate the growth of Legionella," says Amy Pruden, an environmental microbiologist at Virginia Tech and an author of the study. Corrosive water dissolves the protective mineral lining in pipes and then leaches iron out of old iron pipes. Iron is a micronutrient that boosts Legionella reproduction. The metal also reacts with and inactivates chlorine disinfectant that otherwise would kill the bacteria.
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OFFICIALS WARN OF SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION RISK OF LINSEED OIL AND OTHER COMMON HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTS
Tags: us_MD, public, discovery, environmental, other_chemical
Summer is a popular time for home improvement projects, but officials are warning of a danger that many people may not be aware of until it's too late: spontaneous combustion of common household products used to finish furniture and decks.
Oil-based wood stains and linseed oil can combust and burn even without any spark to initiate the fire, officials say.
Shannon Priddy's Gaithersburg, Maryland, house was destroyed in 2014 after she says contractors left rags soaked in wood stain under her deck.
"We had no idea that anything like this could happen," Priddy, who was not injured in the incident, told ABC News.
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FIREFIGHTER SUFFERS HEART ATTACK BATTLING BLAZE IN ENGLISHTOWN
Tags: us_NJ, industrial, fire, response, ammonium_persulfate, dye
ENGLISHTOWN - Five firefighters were injured, including one who suffered a heart attack, as a result of fighting a blaze in the sweltering heat Monday morning at a hair-dye manufacturing building, officials said.
Firefighters responded to Hair Systems Inc., located at 30 Park Avenue, at around 8 a.m., Deputy Fire Marshal Rick Hogan, of the Monmouth County Fire Marshal's Office, said.
Three firefighters were taken to CentraState Medical Center in Freehold for heat exhaustion, Hogan said. One firefighter was transported to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick after suffering a heart attack. Hogan said he is doing well and is recovering.
Two firefighters and one HAZMAT technician were also treated at the scene for minor heat-related injuries.
Hogan said the fire occurred after a chemical used at the facility, ammonium persulfate, came in contact with water, causing it to heat up. The chemical was kept in a four-wheel hopper so it can travel around the building, Hogan said.
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JUDGE: EMERGENCY RESPONDERS CAN SUE OVER TRAIN DISASTER
Tags: us_TN, transportation, follow-up, environmental, acrylonitrile, cyanide, plastics, toxics
MARYVILLE, Tenn. - Police, firefighters and other first responders sign up for inherently dangerous work, but that doesn't give citizens or businesses a blank check to harm them without financial consequences, a federal judge has ruled in the case of a Maryville train derailment.
Chief U.S. District Judge Tom Varlan has turned aside a bid by CSX Transportation Inc. and Union Tank Car Co. to dismiss a class-action lawsuit filed by emergency responders in a July 2015 freight train derailment in Maryville that sent poisonous smoke into the air and more than 100 people to the hospital.
A broken axle on a single rail car hauling 24,000 gallons of a toxic chemical derailed the 57-car train, causing a fire that burned for 19 hours, authorities said.
About 5,000 people in a 2-mile radius in Blount County were forced to evacuate their homes. At least 87 people had to be treated, with 36 admitted to the hospital, and 10 first-responders also required treatment for the effects of exposure to the noxious smoke. A fish kill was later reported, and area wells tested.
The rail car was carrying a chemical, acrylonitrile, used in the manufacture of plastics. The substance is considered carcinogenic, and exposure can burn the skin, inflame the lining of the lungs, throat and nose, and cause headaches, nausea and dizziness. Cyanide is a byproduct of burning acrylonitrile.
Union Tank Car Co. manufactured the rail car at issue. CSX is accused, among other things, of dragging the rail car nearly 10 miles after the axle broke, which, in turn, caused it to rupture and the derailment to occur. Both companies face class-action lawsuits in U.S. District Court from emergency responders in one action, and property owners in another.
The firms wanted the emergency responders' lawsuit tossed out in its entirety, arguing Tennessee has what's known as the Policemen and Firemen's Rule. Under the rule, police and emergency workers are barred from suing citizens and business owners for injuries those responders suffer on the job.
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SHELTER IN PLACE ISSUED FOR GALENA PARK DUE TO CHEMICAL RELEASE
Tags: us_TX, industrial, release, response, sulfur_dioxide
GALENA PARK, Texas =E2=80" A shelter in place has been lifted for Galena Park after a chemical release at a Pasadena plant Monday afternoon.
The Pasadena Refining System flared off product, including sulfur dioxide, at their plant in the 1100 block of Red Bluff, Pasadena Fire Marshal Dave Brannon said.
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