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From: Ralph Stuart <rstuartcih**At_Symbol_Here**me.com>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines from Google (11 articles)
Date: Wed, 13 May 2015 07:39:12 -0400
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: 8F2DFEE0-27D4-4755-A7BF-BFDF455C9D20**At_Symbol_Here**me.com
Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Wednesday, May 13, 2015 at 7:30:55 AM
A membership benefit of the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety
All article summaries and tags are archived at http://pinboard.in/u:dchas
Table of Contents (11 articles)
FIRE BREATHING PERFORMERS HONE THEIR SKILLS AT MISSOULA STUDIO
Tags: us_MT, public, fire, response, other_chemical
FIRE CREWS CALLED TO CHEMICAL SPILL AT UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM LABORATORY
Tags: United_Kingdom, laboratory, fire, response, toluene
CHEMICAL REACTIONS: GLYPHOSATE AND THE POLITICS OF CHEMICAL SAFETY
Tags: United_Kingdom, public, discovery, environmental, ag_chems
STUDIES: SCIENCE-BASED RESPONSE LACKING IN CHEMICAL DISASTERS
Tags: us_IN, public, discovery, environmental, petroleum
EGLIN PARKWAY CLOSED FOR CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: us_FL, transportation, release, response, hydrochloric_acid
HAZMAT TEAM RESPONDS TO CORTLAND CO. SPCA
Tags: us_NY, public, release, injury, unknown_chemical
5 HOSPITALIZED FOLLOWING KENT HAZMAT SITUATION
Tags: us_WA, public, release, injury, unknown_chemical
CREWS RESPOND TO POSSIBLE MERCURY SPILL IN SIMI VALLEY
Tags: us_CA, public, release, response, mercury
11 TRANSPORTED AFTER CARBON MONOXIDE EXPOSURE IN MD.
Tags: us_MD, industrial, release, injury, carbon_monoxide
YORKTOWN HIGH SCHOOL IN ARLINGTON EVACUATED AFTER CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: us_VA, laboratory, release, response, hydrochloric_acid
FOOD & DRUG ADMINISTRATION SEEKS SAFETY DATA ON SKIN SANITIZERS
Tags: industrial, discovery, environmental
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FIRE BREATHING PERFORMERS HONE THEIR SKILLS AT MISSOULA STUDIO
Tags: us_MT, public, fire, response, other_chemical
Maybe you‰??ve always dreamed of being a performer, even though you sing like a mud frog and your feet can‰??t find a two-step. But singing and dancing isn‰??t the only way to get into the spotlight. What if you could throw flames from your mouth like a dragon?
Learning fire breathing was the goal of a small group of twenty-somethings last Sunday. They gathered in front of a cavernous building on DeFoe Street in Missoula for a workshop with Jeff Bluett, a fire eating and breathing instructor from Bozeman. The workshop was offered by Moksha Aerial Studio, whose regular schedule includes classes with names like Acroyoga, Kid Circus!, Aerial Yogafusion, and Flow Jam. It‰??s a sort of fitness-through-performance studio.
A woman named Arial Prop, who performs with the same Bozeman group Jeff‰??s in, has taken this training, but never done the actual fire breathing.
"Fire right next to my face does kinda freak me out still," said Prop.
---------------------------------------------
FIRE CREWS CALLED TO CHEMICAL SPILL AT UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM LABORATORY
Tags: United_Kingdom, laboratory, fire, response, toluene
Firefighters spent an hour and a half at the University of Nottingham's Park Campus dealing with a chemical spill.
Two fire crews were sent to the university's School of Physics and Astronomy, of Clifton Boulevard, after a small amount of toluene, which is used as a solvent, was spilled.
Although it was the size of a teaspoon, firefighters and a specialist fire officer remained at the scene for 90 minutes as a precaution, due to the substance being hazardous.
No one was hurt in the incident.
A spokesman for Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service said a small fire had broken out at a laboratory at the three-storey building beforehand, but staff had managed to put it out themselves.
But he added that in doing so, the chemical had been spilled.
He said: "There had been a very small fire in the laboratory, and they extinguished it themselves, but then the chemical was spilled."
---------------------------------------------
CHEMICAL REACTIONS: GLYPHOSATE AND THE POLITICS OF CHEMICAL SAFETY
Tags: United_Kingdom, public, discovery, environmental, ag_chems
Glyphosate, the world‰??s most widely used herbicide, hit the headlines in March after the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) announced that it is a ‰??probable human carcinogen‰??.
The IARC, which is responsible for providing an evidence base for the cancer control policies of the World Health Organisation and its members, had completed a year long review of the scientific literature on the herbicide. It found ‰??convincing evidence‰?? that glyphosate causes cancer in laboratory animals, ‰??limited evidence‰?? that it does so in agricultural workers, and evidence that it causes DNA and chromosomal damage in human cells.
The IARC‰??s evaluation is hugely important because it is sharply at odds with the views of the world‰??s major regulatory agencies. Last year, an evaluation by German government regulators, on behalf of the European Commission, concluded that there was no evidence that glyphosate is carcinogenic or mutagenic, or that the herbicide posed any other serious hazard to health. All other regulatory agencies have reached similar conclusions.
The IARC did not have access to new evidence. So why has it reached totally different conclusions about the hazards posed by glyphosate?
First, this kind of disagreement is not unprecedented, or entirely surprising. Evidence about chemical safety is often incomplete, uncertain and ambiguous, such that assessments of safety cannot always be resolved on the basis of evidence alone. What, for example, constitutes a reliable and relevant study? How should conflicting evidence be weighed? How much of what kinds of evidence are necessary to support a judgement about hazard, or its absence? Subjective judgements and assumptions, as well as evidence, are typically required to settle such questions, so it is no wonder that institutions sometimes disagree.
We do not know exactly why institutional evaluations of glyphosate differed so markedly in this case because the IARC has yet to publish its full evaluation (that is promised for later in the year). But, from the IARC‰??s summary, it appears likely that it used different criteria for choosing which evidence to evaluate; made different judgements about the reliability of some of the evidence; and interpreted the results of some of the experimental studies in different ways.
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STUDIES: SCIENCE-BASED RESPONSE LACKING IN CHEMICAL DISASTERS
Tags: us_IN, public, discovery, environmental, petroleum
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. ‰??Three new studies suggest that when communities are hit with disasters that contaminate drinking water the official decision-making and response often lack scientific basis.
The result has been an inability to fully anticipate public health risks and effectively rid plumbing systems of contaminants, sometimes exposing residents to toxic chemicals, said Andrew Whelton, an assistant professor in Purdue University's Division of Environmental and Ecological Engineering and Lyles School of Civil Engineering.
Since 2014 more than 1.5 million people across the nation have received drinking water tainted with crude oil, diesel fuel, algal toxins and coal-washing chemicals.
"Numerous contamination incidents have been caused by chemical spills from storage tank ruptures, pipeline breaks, rail car and truck accidents, as well as algal blooms," Whelton said.
His team has been examining recent disasters in which tainted drinking water was distributed to homes. The goal is to develop techniques and tools to help communities respond more effectively, said Whelton, who will discuss some of the results of three studies on Wednesday (May 13) during the American Water Works Association Central District spring meeting in Danville, Indiana.
Some of the drinking water catastrophes studied were a January 2014 chemical spill in West Virginia; an August 2014 toxic algal bloom in Western Lake Erie; a December 2014 accident involving a petroleum-based solvent in Washington, D.C.; a January 2015 crude oil pipeline accident in Glendive, Montana; and an April 2015 diesel spill in Nibley City, Utah.
---------------------------------------------
EGLIN PARKWAY CLOSED FOR CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: us_FL, transportation, release, response, hydrochloric_acid
Four one-gallon bottles of hydrochloric acid were found ‰??bubbling and smoking‰?? early Tuesday on the Cinco Bayou Bridge.
The discovery, made at 8:35 a.m. by a Fort Walton Beach Police officer, forced the closing of the northbound lane of the bridge for nearly four hours while a hazardous materials team removed the dangerous substance.
The police officer was crossing the bridge when he saw a box lying in the road with its contents spilling, said Fort Walton Beach Sgt. Mark Hayse.
‰??We don‰??t know who dropped it off,‰?? Hayse said. ‰??It looked like it had fallen off a truck. It doesn‰??t look like it was something intentional.‰??
The officer reacted by contacting city patrol units and the Okaloosa County Sheriff‰??s Office to get the bridge shut down, Hayse said.
---------------------------------------------
HAZMAT TEAM RESPONDS TO CORTLAND CO. SPCA
Tags: us_NY, public, release, injury, unknown_chemical
UPDATE 10:15 a.m. -- Officials say the hazmat situation was caused by an accidental mixture of chemicals.
Approximately eight people were affected and officials think they will be okay once they utilize the decontamination stations.
Pets are also running through the decontamination stations.
Officials with the SPCA say they have to decontaminate the entire building and essentially start from the beginning since food and supplies have been contaminated, as well.
---
Dispatchers have confirmed a hazmat team is responding to the Cortland County SPCA. Ambulance, the fire department and police are on scene for what is being called a "hazmat incident," by officials. Few details are being released on the matter, CNYCentral will post updates as more information is made available.
---------------------------------------------
5 HOSPITALIZED FOLLOWING KENT HAZMAT SITUATION
Tags: us_WA, public, release, injury, unknown_chemical
KENT ‰?? Emergency crews took five people to local hospitals Monday morning for treatment to exposure of a possible airborne chemical, stemming from a HazMat situation at an area business.
Fire crews responded to an undisclosed business in the 19800 block of 84th Avenue south in Kent after five employees went to the company‰??s nurses station, reporting shortness of breath and complaining of dizziness. Nurses called the Kent Fire Department, and all five workers were transported to local hospitals.
One other person was treated at the scene for medical issues unrelated to the HazMat, the Kent Fire Department said.
HazMat teams investigated the ‰??chemical problem‰?? at the scene. However, no obvious source was found, crews said. The building was ventilated to remove any remaining airborne chemicals.
---------------------------------------------
CREWS RESPOND TO POSSIBLE MERCURY SPILL IN SIMI VALLEY
Tags: us_CA, public, release, response, mercury
SIMI VALLEY, Calif. - Authorities said on Monday that a sizable amount of mercury was found near some Simi Valley homes, forcing them to close the area while a hazardous materials team tries to determine the cause and extent of the contamination.
Ten people, including three firefighters, were exposed to the mercury, authorities said.
The spill was reported about noon outside a home in the 4100 block of East Cochran Street, according to the Ventura County Fire Department. The home was near Santa Susana Elementary School, but the school was not affected, officials said.
Six homes in the immediate area were evacuated, and residents of two others were asked to stay indoors, fire officials said.
Ventura County Fire Capt. Mike Lindbery said a resident called authorities Monday because his dogs became ill. Lindbery said the substance had been on the driveway, which is shared by multiple homes, for months but had not caused any problems before.
Responding fire crews and environmental health officials tested the substance and determined around 6 p.m. that it was mercury. High exposures to mercury can cause kidney problems, respiratory failure and other serious health effects, officials say.
Two to three pounds of mercury had spilled, affecting a 100-square-foot area, authorities said.
---------------------------------------------
11 TRANSPORTED AFTER CARBON MONOXIDE EXPOSURE IN MD.
Tags: us_MD, industrial, release, injury, carbon_monoxide
ROCKVILLE, Md. (WUSA9) -- Eleven constructions workers were transported to the hospital with carbon monoxide exposure Monday, according to Montgomery County Fire and Rescue officials said.
High levels of carbon monoxide were reported at a construction site located at 14935 Southlawn Lane, officials said.
The likely cause of the buildup was the operation of concrete finishers inside without a vent, officials said.
The injuries are not considered to be life-threatening. In the meantime, Montgomery County Fire is ventilating the building.
---------------------------------------------
YORKTOWN HIGH SCHOOL IN ARLINGTON EVACUATED AFTER CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: us_VA, laboratory, release, response, hydrochloric_acid
ARLINGTON, Va. (WJLA) - A high school in Arlington was evacuated early Monday morning after a teacher spilled a chemical inside of a room.
The Arlington County Fire Department responded to a call around 7:43 a.m. for a hazmat issue at Yorktown High School. A teacher spilled a 1500 mL bottle of hydrochloric acid inside one of the laboratory classrooms, according to a spokesperson for the department.
It is unclear how much acid was in the container, but the spill affected a 3x4 area in the room. There were no injuries.
The first floor of the school was evacuated. Air testing by firefighters showed additional levels of the school were clear.
Firefighters have neutralized the acid and are waiting for a contracting company to clean up the spill.
---------------------------------------------
FOOD & DRUG ADMINISTRATION SEEKS SAFETY DATA ON SKIN SANITIZERS
Tags: industrial, discovery, environmental
Federal regulators are planning to reevaluate the safety of long-term daily exposure to skin sanitizers, such as hand washes and surgical hand scrubs, used by workers in hospitals and other health care settings.
FDA has no data suggesting that active ingredients in health care antiseptics are unsafe or ineffective. But the use of these products has skyrocketed since the agency first evaluated them in the 1970s.
‰??Today, health care professionals use antiseptic products much more frequently than they used to, in some cases up to 100 times a day,‰?? says Theresa M. Michele, director of nonprescription drug products in FDA‰??s Center for Drug Evaluation & Research. Emerging science suggests that exposure to some antiseptic active ingredients, such as alcohol and iodine, is higher in health care workers than previously thought, she says.
Because of the higher rates of exposure, FDA is proposing to require manufacturers of these products to provide additional safety data. The information would include the potential for active ingredients to be absorbed through the skin, cause hormonal effects, and contribute to antibiotic resistance.
The agency is not requiring manufacturers to remove any health care antiseptics from the market at this time, Michele emphasizes. ‰??FDA recommends that health care personnel continue to use these products, consistent with infection control guidelines while additional data are gathered,‰?? she says.
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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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