Or perhaps the actual chemical of interest is methyl isocyanate.

 

Jim Tarr

 

> On February 6, 2015 at 9:39 AM Ben Ruekberg <bruekberg**At_Symbol_Here**CHM.URI.EDU> wrote:
>
>
> Sufficient concentration of the highly stinky gas, hydrogen sulfide, will
> knock out one's sense of smell. Is it possible that the same applied to its
> methyl analog?
>
> Ben Ruekberg
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: DCHAS-L Discussion List [mailto:dchas-l**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU] On Behalf Of
> Edward Movitz
> Sent: Friday, February 06, 2015 11:57 AM
> To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU
> Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines from Google (13 articles)
>
> The initial statement about the amount of Mercaptan let loose and undetected
> is also at odds with common sense :
>
> "Chemical manufacturer DuPont has reported that about 23,000 pounds of a
> flammable toxic chemical escaped in the building where four of its workers
> died two weeks ago at a Houston-area plant.
>
> DuPont disclosed in a news release the quantity of the methyl mercaptan that
> led to the deaths Nov. 15."
>
> Ed
>
>
> Edward M. Movitz
> Health & Safety Officer / FSO
>
> The University of Mississippi
>
> Department of Health and Safety
>
> 100 Health and Safety Building
>
> P.O. Box 1848
>
> University, MS 38677-1848
>
> U.S.A.
>
> O:+1-662-915-5433 | F: 662-915-5480
>
> movitz**At_Symbol_Here**olemiss.edu | www.olemiss.edu | Health & Safety Web Site
>
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> ________________________________________
> From: DCHAS-L Discussion List [dchas-l**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU] on behalf of Debbie
> M. Decker [dmdecker**At_Symbol_Here**UCDAVIS.EDU]
> Sent: Friday, February 06, 2015 10:35 AM
> To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU
> Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines from Google (13 articles)
>
> Did anyone else find this tidbit odd? How could there be methyl mercaptan
> vapor build up and no one notice it? Around here, someone takes the sealed
> jar out of the dessicator to take to the fume hood and there's howling up
> and down the hall from the smell.
>
>
> Debbie M. Decker, CCHO, ACS Fellow
> Chair, Division of Chemical Health and Safety University of California,
> Davis
> (530)754-7964
> (530)304-6728
> dmdecker**At_Symbol_Here**ucdavis.edu
>
> Birkett's hypothesis: "Any chemical reaction that proceeds smoothly under
> normal conditions, can proceed violently in the presence of an idiot."
>
> ---------------------------------------------
>
> SAFETY FLAWS LED TO DEADLY DUPONT LEAK
> Tags: us_TX, industrial, follow-up, death, other_chemical
>
> HOUSTON -- It was DuPont's third deadly U.S. accident in five years and the
> deadliest of them all. On November 15th, a chemical leak in LaPorte took the
> lives of four workers, including two brothers.
>
> They were inside a building that manufactured insecticides.
>
> Federal investigators have now claimed there were problems both with the
> building and with how things were done there.
>
> "What we are seeing here in this incident in LaPorte is definitely a problem
> of safety culture in the corporation of DuPont," said Rafael Moure-Eraso,
> Chairman of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board.
>
> After months of investigating, the independent agency found a ventilation
> system had been broken that allowed a harmful chemical called methyl
> mercaptan to build up without anyone knowing it.
>
> ---------------------------------------------
>
>
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