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From: "Secretary, ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety" <secretary**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines from Google (7 articles)
Date: Mon, 8 Jul 2013 08:03:22 -0400
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: 9D6235F2-2346-4994-A8B8-BBD1FE2F900B**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org
Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Monday, July 8, 2013 8:03:11 AM
A service of the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety
Connecting Chemistry and Safety at http://www.dchas.org
All article summaries and tags are archived at http://pinboard.in/u:dchas
Table of Contents (7 articles)
WHY THE PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE MATTERS
Tags: United_Kingdom, public, discovery, environmental
SIMPSONVILLE MAYOR: NO HEALTH RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH HAZMAT SITUATION
Tags: us_KY, public, discovery, response, chlorine
INVESTIGATORS SUSPECT METH LAB EXPLOSION CAUSED ELKHART FIRE
Tags: us_IN, public, explosion, response, illegal, meth_lab
SFD: 'LIQUID' FIRE UNDER CONTROL AT PORT OF CADDO-BOSSIER PLANT
Tags: us_LA, industrial, fire, response, metals, paints
DESIGNER MATERIALS AND 20TH CENTURY INNOVATION
Tags: public, discovery, environmental, nanotech
TRAIN CARRYING FLAMMABLE LIQUID DERAILS, BURSTS INTO FLAMES IN CANADA
Tags: Canada, transportation, fire, response, petroleum
LAB SECURITY IS NOT JUST FOR THE BIG GUYS
Tags: public, discovery, environmental
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WHY THE PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE MATTERS
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/political-science/2013/jul/08/precautionary-principle-science-policy?CMP=twt_fd
Tags: United_Kingdom, public, discovery, environmental
Precaution is arguably one of the most misunderstood and misrepresented issues in the global politics of science and technology. Misunderstood, because precaution is so often wrongly asserted to be unscientific or anti-technology. Misrepresented, because a large part of the resulting stigma can be a systematic ? even deliberate ? effect of power.
Powerful interests behind a particular innovation can understandably get pretty exercised when challenged by precautionary concerns over their favoured new technology. But these highly partisan commotions need not provoke such existential angst across society as a whole. Precaution does not necessarily mean a ban. It simply urges that time and space be found to get things right.
To see the value of this, we can start by considering history. Take, for example, asbestos, lead, benzene, pesticides, ozone-depleters or overfishing. In all these areas and many more, early precautionary action was dismissed as irrational by governments, business and scientific establishments alike ? claiming there were no alternatives. Yet now, it is agreed on all sides of the debate that levels of risk were initially quite significantly understated. And, in retrospect, there were more viable substitutes than were claimed at the time. Similar questions arise in forward-looking dilemmas of technology choice; around alternatives to nuclear power or GM food, for example.
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SIMPSONVILLE MAYOR: NO HEALTH RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH HAZMAT SITUATION
http://www.whas11.com/news/Chemical-spill-forces-evacuation--214531971.html
Tags: us_KY, public, discovery, response, chlorine
SIMPSONVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) -- The Simpsonville mayor said a hazmat situation on Old Veechdale Road was caused by a rotting barrel of chlorine buried underground.
Mayor Steve Eden said a water house used to be where homes now stand and the barrel was probably buried there years ago. The barrel most likely rotted, causing the chlorine to leak.
"From back in the 50s there is an old abandoned water system here and we think somebody buried a couple of cylinders, old abandoned chlorine cylinders, and they have just started ruptured over the years, started leaking and just happens to be in the back yard of these peoples' houses," Eden said.
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INVESTIGATORS SUSPECT METH LAB EXPLOSION CAUSED ELKHART FIRE
http://www.wsbt.com/news/wsbt-investigators-suspect-meth-lab-explosion-caused-elkhart-fire-20130706,0,1127248.story
Tags: us_IN, public, explosion, response, illegal, meth_lab
A suspected meth lab explosion in Elkhart Saturday brought fire crews out to a home in the 1800 block of Fieldhouse Avenue.
Fire Investigators tell WSBT there was suspicion of a possible meth lab when they arrived on scene.
Once the fire was put out, they called detectives in to conduct a more thorough criminal investigation.
That investigation is ongoing.
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SFD: 'LIQUID' FIRE UNDER CONTROL AT PORT OF CADDO-BOSSIER PLANT
http://www.ksla.com/story/22771732/caddo-fire-district-responds-to-call-at-ternium-usa-plant-in-shreveport
Tags: us_LA, industrial, fire, response, metals, paints
CADDO PARISH, LA (KSLA) -
A 'liquid' fire that broke out inside a manufacturing facility at the Port of Caddo-Bossier late Friday night has been brought under control.
Firefighters got a call about 9:30 p.m. to respond to a fire emergency scene at the Ternium USA plant, located at 2500 Ron Bean Blvd.
The plant produces coated steel products. The facility includes a metal coating line that produces galvanized and galvalume coated steel coils; and a continuous paint line that produces painted steel coils.
Authorities say a fire started in the basement of the plant's MCL mill, where a breach in a vat intended to hold contain molten zinc, and the super-heated chemical element began to leak on electrical equipment.
SFD Chief Louis Johnson says the liquid fire was caused by metal that had gotten so hot that it boiled and turned molten. "Often times, water is not always the best extinguishing agent for an electrical fire." So, firefighters had to use other chemicals, including carbon dioxide and a dry chem, to contain it.
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DESIGNER MATERIALS AND 20TH CENTURY INNOVATION
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDHCZOAWq-4&feature=em-subs_digest
Tags: public, discovery, environmental, nanotech
What are advanced materials, and are they safe. Over the next seven weeks, Risk Bites will be taking a look at what advanced materials are, why they are so exciting, and how to make sense of the safety questions they raise.
This week, we look at the emergence of increasingly advanced materials over the 20th century, and the development of multiscale materials design and engineering, from the nanoscale to the macroscale.
Don't forget to subscribe to Risk Bites to follow the whole series.
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TRAIN CARRYING FLAMMABLE LIQUID DERAILS, BURSTS INTO FLAMES IN CANADA
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/07/06/world/americas/canada-train-derailment-fire
Tags: Canada, transportation, fire, response, petroleum
(CNN) -- A train pulling over 70 tankers of crude oil derailed and burst into flames in Canada early Saturday near the U.S. border.
It jumped the tracks in the small town of Lac-Meganic in the province of Quebec, according to officials in Maine, who received a request for help at around 3 a.m. ET.
The inferno spread to nearby homes, and authorities evacuated the center of town and a home for the elderly, CNN affiliate Radio-Canada reported. Thick fuel spilled into the Chaudiere River.
Firefighters from both countries rushed to fight the blaze with at least 27 firefighting vehicles.
Five of the trucks deployed from the United States, after the sheriff's office in Franklin County, Maine, issued an "all call" for help to U.S. fire departments near the border.
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LAB SECURITY IS NOT JUST FOR THE BIG GUYS
http://cenblog.org/the-safety-zone/2013/07/lab-security-is-not-just-for-the-big-guys/
Tags: public, discovery, environmental
In catching up with my reading of the Journal of Chemical Health & Safety, I was struck by the paper ?Lions, tigers, and bears: Managing research security in academia,? by Maureen Kotlas, director of environmental health and safety at the University of Missouri, Columbia. I was particularly interested in the various regulatory requirements for development of security plans for laboratories, and it occurred to me that most of these requirements don?t actually apply, in particular, to smaller academic facilities.
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Ralph Stuart
secretary**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org
Secretary
Division of Chemical Health and Safety
American Chemical Society
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