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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, 30 Mar 2016 07:46:59 -0400
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: 7FB95383-5028-4893-B260-5812D96ECEE7**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org
Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Wednesday, March 30, 2016 at 7:46:42 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=CwIFaQ&c=lb62iw4YL4RFalcE2hQUQealT9-RXrryqt9KZX2qu2s&r=meWM1Buqv4IQ27AlK1OJRjcQl09S1Zta6YXKalY_Io0&m=PTiiLJ2MU0TlktYFIk5S-ZQ1z7equ3gV23kId2afs2o&s=1WcOJC7zcN6UTc6ObP60oAOD205mq9M15UqTfPKInHM&e=
Table of Contents (8 articles)
2020 SCIENCE WITH CARBON NANOTUBES IN THE NEWS AGAIN, WHERE'S THE PUBLIC INTEREST IN POSSIBLE RISKS?
Tags: public, discovery, environmental, asbestos, dye, nanotech
PORTLAND CRASH CAUSES HAZMAT SPILL, CLOSES DOBBINS PIKE
Tags: us_TN, transportation, release, injury, ag_chems, diesel
GREENVILLE WATER HALTED CHEMICAL CHANGES AFTER FLINT
Tags: us_SC, public, discovery, response, corrosives, metals
HAZMAT LEAK CLOSES ENTRANCE RAMP TO I-70 NEAR BROOKVILLE
Tags: us_OH, transportation, release, response, waste
E-CIGARETTE EXPLODES IN KEENE RESTAURANT
Tags: us_NH, public, explosion, injury, batteries
FATAL LAB BLAST BLEW WORKERS OFF THEIR CHAIRS, COURTS & CRIME NEWS & TOP STORIES
Tags: Singapore, laboratory, follow-up, death, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen
SORRELL/CHARENTON RESIDENTS UNDER SHELTER IN PLACE ADVISORY DUE TO CHEMICAL SPILL IN BAYOU TECHE
Tags: us_LA, public, release, response, petroleum
SCOTS PROFESSOR CLAIMS CANCER-CAUSING CHEMICAL IN 3G PITCHES
Tags: United_Kingdom, education, discovery, environmental, toxics
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2020 SCIENCE WITH CARBON NANOTUBES IN THE NEWS AGAIN, WHERE'S THE PUBLIC INTEREST IN POSSIBLE RISKS?
Tags: public, discovery, environmental, asbestos, dye, nanotech
Back in 2008, carbon nanotubes " exceptionally fine tubes made up of carbon atoms " were making headlines. A new study from the U.K. had just shown that, under some conditions, these long, slender fiber-like tubes could cause harm in mice in the same way that some asbestos fibers do.
As a collaborator in that study, I was at the time heavily involved in exploring the risks and benefits of novel nanoscale materials. Back then, there was intense interest in understanding how materials like this could be dangerous, and how they might be made safer.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago, when carbon nanotubes were in the news again, but for a very different reason. This time, there was outrage not over potential risks, but because the artist Anish Kapoor had been given exclusive rights to a carbon nanotube-based pigment " claimed to be one of the blackest pigments ever made.
The worries that even nanotech proponents had in the early 2000s about possible health and environmental risks " and their impact on investor and consumer confidence " seem to have evaporated.
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PORTLAND CRASH CAUSES HAZMAT SPILL, CLOSES DOBBINS PIKE
Tags: us_TN, transportation, release, injury, ag_chems, diesel
Dobbins Pike in Portland was closed for more than six hours Tuesday following a crash that led to a hazardous materials spill.
Two vehicles crashed head-on before 10:25 a.m. on Dobbins Pike between East A.B. Wade and Switchboard roads near the Graball community. Police were still rerouting traffic as of 5 p.m. Tuesday, Sumner County Chief Deputy Aaron Pickard said.
....
Franklin's truck rolled onto its driver"s side, causing 11,000 pounds of fertilizer to spill. The truck is owned by Sumner Farmers Co-op in Gallatin, where Franklin is employed, according to the Sumner County Sheriff"s Office.
Both Franklin and Wilkerson were flown to Skyline Medical Center in Nashville. The extent of their injuries was not clear.
In addition to the fertilizer, up to 75 gallons of diesel fuel also spilled on the road. The Sumner County Emergency Management Agency's hazmat team secured the scene and a remediation company was contacted to finish the clean up, said Pickard.
"It would be a hazardous combination if these substances mix together," Pickard said. "It"s not something you want. They"ve contained all the hazardous substances and the area."
Some materials also spilled into the road"s ditch line. Clean up crews will have to remove and replaced any potentially contaminated soil, EMA Director Ken Weidner said.
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GREENVILLE WATER HALTED CHEMICAL CHANGES AFTER FLINT
Tags: us_SC, public, discovery, response, corrosives, metals
Greenville Water System halted a planned change in the chemical mix that it adds to its water partly in response to the ongoing public health crisis caused by lead leaching from water lines into drinking water that"s made national headlines in Flint, Michigan.
The water system hired a consultant and began a study three years ago of whether it should raise the alkalinity of its water to neutralize acidity " water with low ph " which could cause metal water lines to corrode more quickly.
Corroded water lines compounded problems in Flint after the city decided to switch water sources and the state didn"t require them to add corrosion control to the water from the new source. The more-corrosive water caused lead " a dangerous neurotoxin " to seep into the drinking water from water lines, contaminating the water for thousands of customers.
In Greenville, water staff had suggested moving ahead with alkalinity changes in 2014 but the project had not yet begun in 2015 when reports began to surface about problems with lead in drinking water in Flint, meeting minutes show.
In light of what was happening in Flint and due to changing financial considerations, Greenville Water"s CEO David Bereskin decided to ask the water commission to table the project, which it agreed to do at its February meeting.
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HAZMAT LEAK CLOSES ENTRANCE RAMP TO I-70 NEAR BROOKVILLE
Tags: us_OH, transportation, release, response, waste
BROOKVILLE -- The entrance ramp to I-70 westbound is shut down in Brookville.
According to the Brookville fire chief at the scene, a semi truck carrying various waste materials was leaking paint and varnish from a container inside the trailer. A driver behind the trailer noticed something splatter onto the vehicle. That driver warned the truck driver he was leaking something. He pulled off the interstate and onto the entrance ramp.
Brookville fire and police as well as the Ohio State Highway Patrol are on scene.
The tractor trailer also contains some form of cyanide waste, which was not leaking.
The entrance ramp is expected to be closed for another two to three hours while first responders wait for a hazmat cleanup crew to arrive and then clean up the spill. There is no danger to anyone or any water supplies.
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E-CIGARETTE EXPLODES IN KEENE RESTAURANT
Tags: us_NH, public, explosion, injury, batteries
Diners at a downtown Keene restaurant Easter Sunday got a scare when an e-cigarette exploded.
"We thought a bomb went off ... that's how loud it was," said Timoleon's Restaurant owner Timoleon "Lindy" Chakalos.
About 1 p.m., a Timoleon's customer sitting in a booth by the wall took an e-cigarette from his pocket to put it on the table when it exploded, according to Judy Davis, a waitress at the restaurant.
The e-cigarette left pencil-sized holes and black marks on the wall next to the customer, and melted a piece of tile on the ground, Davis said.
"It was like a big fireball," she said.
Chakalos likened the bright flash of the explosion to fireworks.
The e-cigarette burned the hand and face of the customer who owned it, and hit another customer in a nearby booth in the chest, burning part of his shirt and pants, according to Chakalos.
No one was seriously hurt, he said.
E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that vaporize nicotine-based liquid that is inhaled.
There was so much smoke and heat in the restaurant that Chakalos said he had to open the doors to let it out.
"I never knew that those things could explode before," he said.
For the customer who got hit by the e-cigarette, he was given a free dessert for his troubles, Chakalos said.
Since 2008, there have been 22 reported e-cigarette explosions, according to a February report from CNN. Problems arise when people use the incorrect charger or batteries for their e-cigarettes, the report says.
It is not recommended to carry e-cigarettes in pockets because coins can short-circuit the lithium-ion battery when they rub against each other.
In addition to house fires starting because of e-cigarette explosions, people have also suffered serious injuries from these explosions, including a broken neck, a lost eye, lost teeth, vision damage, as well as second- and third-degree burns.
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FATAL LAB BLAST BLEW WORKERS OFF THEIR CHAIRS, COURTS & CRIME NEWS & TOP STORIES
Tags: Singapore, laboratory, follow-up, death, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen
An explosion at a Jurong industrial gas supply firm in October last year was so powerful that it blew two workers off their chairs and caused part of the ceiling to collapse, a coroner's court heard yesterday.
Madam Lim Siaw Chian, a 30-year-old chemist at Leeden National Oxygen, died in the ensuing blaze amid further explosions.
At the time, she had just returned to work from maternity leave.
Seven employees were reportedly hurt in the fire which engulfed the ground-floor laboratory at the firm in Tanjong Kling Road.
Madam Lim's charred remains were found on six occasions, over a two-month period, and were identified via her infant daughter's DNA, the court heard on the first day of the inquiry into Madam Lim's death.
Police investigator Mohammad Amin Majid told the court that investigations by the Singapore Civil Defence Force and the Ministry of Manpower into the cause of the blaze have yet to be completed.
State Coroner Marvin Bay adjourned the hearing to April 15.
The inquiry heard that Madam Lim, who was also known as Krysten, was working at Leeden's Specialty Gas Centre Quality Control Laboratory when the fire broke out on Oct 12 last year.
Work in the 35 sq m lab includes testing and analysing gases.
Leeden is involved in the storage, mixing and bottling of industrial gases such as hydrogen, helium, nitrogen and argon, for supply to shipyards and industrial firms.
At about 9.20am, a worker who was in the lab saw a flash of fire, heard an explosion and saw the ceiling collapse. He ran out of the room immediately.
Two other workers fell off their chairs because of the blast.
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SORRELL/CHARENTON RESIDENTS UNDER SHELTER IN PLACE ADVISORY DUE TO CHEMICAL SPILL IN BAYOU TECHE
Tags: us_LA, public, release, response, petroleum
ST. MARY PARISH, La. (KLFY) " Deputies are asking residents in the Sorrell/Charenton to shelter in place as a precaution due to a chemical leak in Bayou Teche.
The sheriff"s office received the report around 5:30 p.m. of a chemical substance in the bayou near the Adeline Bridge
Crews have been working since the early evening to clean it up.
LA 87 east and west of the Adeline Bridge is closed to traffic. Bayou Teche has also been closed to boat traffic due to the spill.
Master Trooper Brooks David, of the Louisiana State Police, said a LSP hazmat team is in place and is monitoring air quality.
Officials with the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality are headed to the scene, according to David.
Public Information Officer Traci Landry said investigators believe the chemical is petroleum based.
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SCOTS PROFESSOR CLAIMS CANCER-CAUSING CHEMICAL IN 3G PITCHES
Tags: United_Kingdom, education, discovery, environmental, toxics
A professor at the University of Stirling has identified cancer-causing chemicals in crumb samples from 3G football pitches.
It follows reports in the United States linking cancer among 168 footballers with the pitches.
Samples of the crumb " pellets spread on the artificial turf to improve its bounce " were sent for testing by the Environment Scientifics Group, and the results were passed to Prof Andrew Watterson, an environmental health expert from the University of Stirling.
He said: "This report confirms and reveals the presence of a number of carcinogens at various levels in the rubber crumb.
"If the chemicals and metals remain locked in to the crumb, then there will be no exposure.
"However, it seems to be fairly clear that there may be some potential risk from some of these substances to sports people.
"To what extent and with what effect the carcinogenic metals and semi-volatile organic compounds may be taken up through inhalation, skin absorption or ingestion and under what conditions remains the big question."
The crumb rubber, which is made from recycled car tyres, has been linked to cancer clusters. Tests on samples revealed the presence of a number of chemical elements linked to poisoning, such as arsenic, lead and cadmium.
However, it was the prevalence of carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that will cause the most concern. Research in 2014 by four US universities found polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) to be "highly mutagenic cancer-causing
compounds".
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