Date: Mon, 21 May 2007 12:51:41 -0400
Reply-To: List Moderator <ecgrants**At_Symbol_Here**UVM.EDU>
Sender: DCHAS-L Discussion List <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU>
From: List Moderator <ecgrants**At_Symbol_Here**UVM.EDU>
Subject: Chemical & Engineering News: Latest News - Chemical Security

Below is the text from an article from the latest issue of C&EN. It
sounds like things are still in flux on this issue.

Ralph Stuart, CIH
Secretary, ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety Environmental  
Safety
Facility 667 Spear St. Burlington, VT  05405

rstuart**At_Symbol_Here**uvm.edu


05/21/2007 11:10 AM
Chemical & Engineering News: Latest News - Chemical Security

http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/85/i21/8521notw6.html

Chemical & Engineering News
May 21, 2007
Volume 85, Number 21 p. 8

Department of Homeland Security rule captures academic labs Lois Ember

NEW CHEMICAL SECURITY regulations issued by the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) are sending colleges and universities into a
tailspin. The rules will require institutions storing or using
"chemicals of interest" that exceed specified amounts to inventory
them and complete an online form. DHS will then determine whether the
institutions are subject to further security requirements (C&EN,
April 9, page 13).

Academic institutions across the country claim they will have to
spend countless hours and scarce resources on documenting very small
amounts of chemicals in many different labs that are scattered across
sometimes sprawling campuses. Many of the chemicals, they say, are in
minute quantities and often in dilute aqueous solutions and thus pose
minimal security risks.

"The rule was intended for chemical facilities, not laboratories that
maintain small quantities of chemicals at levels that can't cause
catastrophic events," says Erik A. Talley, Weill Cornell Medical
College's health and safety head.

Academia's collective angst was triggered by DHS's call for comments
on a list of chemicals covered by the regulations. DHS issued this
list as Appendix A on April 9.

Once the appendix was released, academics realized they will have to
report the amount and location of listed chemicals in excess of a so-
called screening threshold quantity. For 104 chemicals on the list,
the threshold is "any amount."

The Campus Safety, Health & Environmental Management Association
notes that hazardous chemicals on campus already "are closely notes
that hazardous chemicals on campus already "are closely regulated" by
EPA, OSHA, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, and by many
other state and federal standards. "As a result, colleges and
universities pose no significant chemical security risk," CSHEMA
says, and urges that they be exempted from DHS regulations.

Lawrence M. Stanton, acting DHS director of chemical security
compliance, disagrees. "Existing fire and building codes and safety
protocols are aimed at safety. None are aimed at security," he says.
Stanton says a significantly revised Appendix A to reflect the
concerns of academia and others "will be released in early to mid-June."

Chemical & Engineering News
ISSN 0009-2347
Copyright C 2007 American Chemical Society

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