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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 (8 articles)
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 2015 07:31:12 -0500
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: 7AD537C8-819A-4787-BAB9-4338E2B5F42F**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org
Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Wednesday, November 18, 2015 at 7:30:44 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=BQIFaQ&c=lb62iw4YL4RFalcE2hQUQealT9-RXrryqt9KZX2qu2s&r=meWM1Buqv4IQ27AlK1OJRjcQl09S1Zta6YXKalY_Io0&m=3N-tdn7bwVtuswRoQGCDAaU4aa6jQXen4AucxaiF_B8&s=PDMtRXRqOJ0DWpn9wWmwtQduSYqsVfvAUaCLmSKJzsw&e=
Table of Contents (8 articles)
BLAST & FIRE REPORTED AT CHEMICAL FACTORY IN CHINA‰??S LIAONING PROVINCE ‰?? RT NEWS
Tags: China, industrial, explosion, response, unknown_chemical
HAZMAT CREWS CLEANING CHEMICAL SPILL ON COQUIHALLA HIGHWAY
Tags: Canada, transportation, release, response, sodium_hydroxide
FRACKING CHEMICALS LED TO LEETSDALE WAREHOUSE FIRE, EVACUATIONS; 4 HURT
Tags: us_PA, industrial, fire, response, other_chemical, oxidizer
GENE DRIVE REVERSIBILITY INTRODUCES NEW LAYER OF BIOSAFETY (W/VIDEO)
Tags: laboratory, discovery, environmental, other_chemical
TOWARD ELIMINATING POLIOVIRUS‰??IN THE LAB
Tags: India, laboratory, discovery, environmental, other_chemical
CHEMICAL BARREL CATCHES ON FIRE AT COMMERCIAL BUILDING IN HAMPTON
Tags: us_VA, industrial, fire, response, unknown_chemical
CHEMICAL SPILL, GAS LEAKS REPORTED AFTER MASSIVE TORNADO LEVELS TEXAS HALLIBURTON PLANT ‰?? RT USA
Tags: us_TX, industrial, release, response, unknown_chemical
CO2 LEVELS APPROACHING 400 PPM, GLOBAL SCIENTIFIC GROUP REPORTS
Tags: public, discovery, environmental, carbon_dioxide, methane
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BLAST & FIRE REPORTED AT CHEMICAL FACTORY IN CHINA‰??S LIAONING PROVINCE ‰?? RT NEWS
Tags: China, industrial, explosion, response, unknown_chemical
An explosion has been reported at a chemical factory in Fushun, Liaoning province, in northeast China. The cause of the blast is under investigation, CCTV reported.
The explosion caused a fire at the site, the factory's website said, as cited by TASS news agency.
Firefighters quickly arrived at the scene and the situation is reportedly under control.
No casualties have been reported.
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HAZMAT CREWS CLEANING CHEMICAL SPILL ON COQUIHALLA HIGHWAY
Tags: Canada, transportation, release, response, sodium_hydroxide
The Interior Health Authority (IHA) has confirmed the sodium hydroxide that spilled yesterday when a tractor trailer crashed on the Coquihalla Highway around Larson Hill has leaked into the Coldwater River.
IHA spokesperson Michaela Swan told the Herald the IHA and Ministry of Environment have been monitoring the situation, and the initial findings are that the risk to human health from this spill is low.
The Coquihalla Highway was closed in both directions on Monday following the accident.
A lane closure is still in effect for northbound traffic as hazmat crews are still on scene today (Nov.17) cleaning up a spill of the chemical from the crash.
The incident occurred in the northbound lane, but the resulting debris ended up blocking the Coquihalla Highway southbound as well.
‰??The truck itself completely blocked the road. There was nowhere to go,‰?? RCMP Cpl. Doug Hardy told the Herald.
He said the accident involved a single vehicle B-train style truck carry two bladders of the chemical, and resulted in minor injuries to the driver.
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FRACKING CHEMICALS LED TO LEETSDALE WAREHOUSE FIRE, EVACUATIONS; 4 HURT
Tags: us_PA, industrial, fire, response, other_chemical, oxidizer
LEETSDALE, Pa. ‰??A fire at the Leetsdale Industrial Park that reached three alarms and prompted a hazmat response and local evacuations Tuesday morning is now being reported as mostly under control.
"We were working with a chemical, an oxidizer, that had an adverse reaction," said plant manager Ed Michalowski. "We don't know the full details of it yet. We're still doing some investigation."
The fire just northwest of Pittsburgh was reported shortly after 10 a.m. Flames shot from the roof, and dark gray smoke could be seen for miles. The mobile unit from Allegheny County Emergency Services responded, along with a hazmat team.
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GENE DRIVE REVERSIBILITY INTRODUCES NEW LAYER OF BIOSAFETY (W/VIDEO)
Tags: laboratory, discovery, environmental, other_chemical
(Nanowerk News) In parallel with their development of the first synthetic gene drives ‰?? which greatly increase the chance a specific gene will be passed on to all offspring ‰?? George Church, Ph.D., and Kevin Esvelt, Ph.D., helped pioneer proactive biosafety measures to ensure that gene drives are investigated effectively and safely in confined laboratory experiments. They envision that synthetic gene drives designed using an RNA-guided gene editing system known as CRISPR-Cas9 ‰?? which works like a pair of molecular scissors to precisely cut or edit DNA ‰?? could one day be used outside of the lab to prevent transmission of deadly insect and animal-borne diseases and eradicate invasive species that threaten the ecosystem and agriculture.
Now, in a new study published in Nature Biotechnology on November 16, a team led by Church and Esvelt at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and Harvard Medical School (HMS) demonstrates effective safeguarding mechanisms for working with gene drives and unveils a first-of-its-kind method for reversing the changes they spread.
"Any claim of reversibility of modern technology requires strong evidence," said Church, who is a Wyss Core Faculty member, the Robert Winthrop Professor of Genetics at HMS, and Professor of Health Sciences and Technology at Harvard and MIT. "This is a major step in that direction for the field of synthetic biology."
Alongside researchers on the Wyss Institute's Synthetic Biology platform, Church and Esvelt, who is a Wyss Technology Development Fellow, have led the gene drive research community in discussions about responsible laboratory conduct and proactive confinement guidelines for the safeguarding of gene drive research. Their latest study verifies the efficacy of safeguarding protocols developed by their team, such as increased and improved physical biocontainment barriers and the introduction of so-called "molecular confinement" mechanisms which use genetic engineering to block laboratory organisms from surviving and reproducing in the highly unlikely event they ever escaped into the ecosystem.
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TOWARD ELIMINATING POLIOVIRUS‰??IN THE LAB
Tags: India, laboratory, discovery, environmental, other_chemical
In September, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) declared type 2 poliovirus eradicated. This long-awaited statement officially confirmed what polio researchers and global public health officials had known for more than a decade: one of the triumvirate of polioviruses was no longer a threat. The last case of type 2 poliovirus was diagnosed in Northern India in 1999.
The announcement also set in motion a critical component of the GPEI‰??s Poliovirus Eradication Endgame Strategic Plan. Among other things, public health officials are planning to stop using oral polio vaccine against type 2 poliovirus in April 2016. To reduce risk of accidental release, all laboratories that stock type 2 poliovirus‰??both the wild-type and vaccine virus‰??will need to destroy the virus soon after that date, or adopt stricter standards for handling it.
Containment of type 2 poliovirus, ‰??really is a step forward to containment of type 1 and 3,‰?? said Walter Dowdle, a consultant to the Task Force for Global Health and former deputy director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
This transition for handling laboratory stocks of type 2 poliovirus will likely be a dress rehearsal for eradication of all types of poliovirus‰??something that may occur before the decade is out. One cost of this progress, though, will likely be halting nearly all basic research into poliovirus as most academic researchers are unlikely to have the funding to upgrade their containment facilities.
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CHEMICAL BARREL CATCHES ON FIRE AT COMMERCIAL BUILDING IN HAMPTON
Tags: us_VA, industrial, fire, response, unknown_chemical
HAMPTON, Va. (WAVY) ‰?? Firefighters in say a chemical barrel sparked on fire at a commercial building in Hampton Monday afternoon.
Fire crews were called out to the building in the 2400 block of Aluminum Avenue around 1 p.m. When firefighters arrived, they found a small fire in a chemical barrel.
The fire was contained to the barrel and was extinguished with a dry chemical extinguisher. Due to the chemicals involved, the Hampton Division of Fire and Rescue Hazardous Materials Team was also called to the building. They declared the scene safe.
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CHEMICAL SPILL, GAS LEAKS REPORTED AFTER MASSIVE TORNADO LEVELS TEXAS HALLIBURTON PLANT ‰?? RT USA
Tags: us_TX, industrial, release, response, unknown_chemical
Large tornados ripped through the Texas panhandle on Monday night, including one estimated to be a mile wide that reportedly leveled a Halliburton plant, causing chemical and gas leaks. Downed power lines were also reported.
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CO2 LEVELS APPROACHING 400 PPM, GLOBAL SCIENTIFIC GROUP REPORTS
Tags: public, discovery, environmental, carbon_dioxide, methane
Concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere continue to break records, with global average carbon dioxide concentrations reaching 397.7 parts per million in 2014, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) says.
The annual average carbon dioxide concentration worldwide is approaching 400 parts per million.
‰??We will soon be living with globally averaged CO2 levels above 400 ppm as a permanent reality,‰?? says WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud.
Two other key greenhouse gases also set records in 2014. Methane levels were 1,833 parts per billion and concentrations of nitrous oxide reached 327 ppb, says WMO, the United Nations agency considered the world‰??s scientific authority on Earth‰??s atmosphere.
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