Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Monday, July 17, 2017 at 8:46:17 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 (12 articles)
MONTICELLO APARTMENT COMPLEX EVACUATED OVER FORMALDEHYDE SPILL
Tags: us_IA, public, release, response, formaldehyde
CHEMICAL ISSUE LEADS TO HAZMAT CALL AT ENGLEWOOD BUSINESS
Tags: us_OH, industrial, release, response, unknown_chemical
WATER TO BE TESTED IN AREA WHERE SINKHOLE SWALLOWED HOMES
Tags: us_FL, public, discovery, response, unknown_chemical
CCFD: SECOND CHEMICAL LEAK AT THE SOUTH TEXAS COLD STORAGE FACIL
Tags: us_TX, industrial, release, response, ammonia
CITY ADOPTS NEW GARBAGE RULES TO PROTECT WORKERS
Tags: us_AK, industrial, discovery, environmental, wastes
ALL CLEAR FOLLOWING CHEMICAL INCIDENT
Tags: New_Zealand, public, release, injury, dust
FIREFIGHTER RESPOND TO KEWDALE CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: Australia, public, release, response, sodium_cyanide
TESCO COMMITS TO GREENPEACE DETOX CAMPAIGN TO MAKE CLOTHES CHEMICAL-FREE
Tags: United_Kingdom, public, discovery, environmental
LAB TESTS: CHEMICALS LINKED TO BIRTH DEFECTS FOUND IN MOST MAC & CHEESE PRODUCTS
Tags: public, discovery, environmental, other_chemical
NC CHANGES GOVERNORS, KEEPS CANCER-CAUSING CHEMICAL STANDARD
Tags: us_NC, public, follow-up, environmental, other_chemical
STATE DRASTICALLY LOWERS 'SAFE' LEVEL OF CHEMICAL GENX IN CAPE FEAR RIVER :: WRAL.COM
Tags: us_NC, public, discovery, environmental, other_chemical
THE LOUISIANA ENVIRONMENTAL APOCALYPSE ROAD TRIP LOUISIANA SERVES AS A TERRIFYING EXAMPLE OF WHAT CAN BECOME OF A STATE THAT SHORTCHANGES SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATIONS TO BOOST INDUSTRY AND INFRASTRUCTURE.
Tags: us_la, discovery, industrial, enviromental
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MONTICELLO APARTMENT COMPLEX EVACUATED OVER FORMALDEHYDE SPILL
Tags: us_IA, public, release, response, formaldehyde
An apartment complex was evacuated this morning after Linn County HAZMAT responded to a hazardous liquid spill inside.
At approximately 7:30 a.m., the Monticello Police Department was dispatched to an apartment building in the 300 block of East First St. for a hazardous liquid spill.
Police say someone who lived in the building had a 1 gallon glass jar with a pig fetus in formaldehyde. The jar broke spilling the liquid in the kitchen area of the apartment. Apartment residents were evacuated for safety precautions.
Linn County HAZMAT, was called in to clean the area. Also assisting was the Monticello Fire Department.
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CHEMICAL ISSUE LEADS TO HAZMAT CALL AT ENGLEWOOD BUSINESS
Tags: us_OH, industrial, release, response, unknown_chemical
ENGLEWOOD, Ohio (WDTN) ‰?? Hazmat crews were called to a business in Englewood early on Monday morning.
Crews removed a chemical from the business in the 700 block of Harco Drive around 2:30 a.m. on Monday.
Authorities say the chemical began oxidizing, creating the hazard. Steam could be seen rising from parking lot where the chemical was sitting.
Police blocked off Harco Drive while crews worked to clear the scene. That scene was clear by 6 a.m. and all roads reopened.
No injuries were reported.
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WATER TO BE TESTED IN AREA WHERE SINKHOLE SWALLOWED HOMES
Tags: us_FL, public, discovery, response, unknown_chemical
LAND O'LAKES, Fla. (AP) ‰?? Emergency management officials will collect water samples to test for E.coli on Monday in the immediate neighborhood where a sinkhole swallowed two homes in Florida.
Additional residents in the area ‰?? where many people use wells ‰?? can have their water tested for a fee.
Pasco County officials said in a news release that families from four of the homes that were initially evacuated were allowed to return Saturday evening. Five other homes are still deemed unsafe for occupancy.
The sinkhole opened up Friday morning and grew to 225 feet (68 meters) in diameter and 50 feet (15 meters) deep, taking with it the two homes and a boat. No one was injured.
The scene is being considered a hazardous materials incident because of possible septic tank issues and building debris.
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CCFD: SECOND CHEMICAL LEAK AT THE SOUTH TEXAS COLD STORAGE FACIL
Tags: us_TX, industrial, release, response, ammonia
CORPUS CHRISTI -
Police shut down intersections near the South Texas Cold Storage facility for a second ammonia leak according to Corpus Christi Fire Department Captain James Brown.
The incident happened just after 3:00 p.m. Sunday afternoon.
First responders had received reports of ammonia in the air which prompted HAZ-MAT crews to be called in. Police officers were also called in to close certain intersections as teams took air samples around the facility.
The incident comes just a month ago after a 'shelter in place' was ordered involving the plant back on June 12th, 2017.
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CITY ADOPTS NEW GARBAGE RULES TO PROTECT WORKERS
Tags: us_AK, industrial, discovery, environmental, wastes
FAIRBANKS ‰?? Half of the city‰??s garbage collection workers have been punctured by hypodermic needles at some point in their careers while picking up garbage bags, said Jeff Jacobson, director of Fairbanks Public Works.
Several years ago, hot ashes inside a garbage can were dumped into the packer truck, which caught fire.
And a few weeks ago, oil was put into the packer truck. When the trash was packed, oil squirted out of the truck, causing an environmental hazard that required immediate cleanup.
Garbage collection can be a dangerous job, and city officials are hoping newly adopted rules will protect their employees and the community.
The amendments to city code boil down to requiring the public to put certain types of garbage into specific containers. Repeat offenses will result in fees tacked onto a resident‰??s quarterly garbage bill.
‰??It‰??s not a matter of catching them doing wrong,‰?? Jacobson said. ‰??It‰??s more so they can really helps us by keeping our city clean and our workers safe.‰??
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ALL CLEAR FOLLOWING CHEMICAL INCIDENT
Tags: New_Zealand, public, release, injury, dust
Ten patients admitted to Tauranga Hospital last night following a chemical incident have been discharged.
The nine teenagers and one adult were brought to the hospital by the fire service after 7pm on Saturday.
A fire service spokesperson says they responded to a chemical incident involving what is believed to have been quicklime powder.
The patients ‰?? nine boys aged between 14 and 16, and one 43-year-old man ‰?? had been exposed to the substance, causing irritation to their skin and eyes.
The fire service brought the patients to the hospital, where they assisted hospital staff in decontaminating the patients using the hospital showers.
A BOPDHB spokesperson says all ten patients were discharged at around 11pm.
Police also attended the incident, although they say at this stage no charges have been laid in relation to the matter.
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FIREFIGHTER RESPOND TO KEWDALE CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: Australia, public, release, response, sodium_cyanide
SEVEN fire crews have raced to the scene of a chemical spill in Kewdale.
Sodium cyanide was inside a train carriage near the Kewdale Freight Terminal when the spill happened shortly after 4.30pm.
Some of the chemicals, which were packaged in house brick sizes, mixed with water at Fenton Street.
Two firefighters in full chemical suits are being sent into the container to assess the spill.
It remains unclear if the chemical outside of the carriage is just water or a chemical mixture.
Sodium cyanide is an organic material that has a high-affinity for metals.
Fenton Street is closed as fire crews work to contain the spill.
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TESCO COMMITS TO GREENPEACE DETOX CAMPAIGN TO MAKE CLOTHES CHEMICAL-FREE
Tags: United_Kingdom, public, discovery, environmental
Tesco has become the latest retailer to commit to removing chemicals thought to be hazardous from the supply chain of its clothing brand.
Greenpeace said Tesco will immediately begin the process of eliminating 11 groups of hazardous substances from its F&F brand, including phthalates, brominated and chlorinated flame retardants, chlorinated solvents and heavy metals.
According to the environmental group, Tesco‰??s pledge went beyond chemicals already banned by EU regulations.
The supermarket giant was also making a precautionary move by eliminating substances thought to be harmful but not necessarily backed by evidence.
Tesco is the latest of around 80 retailers around the world ‰?? including Marks & Spencer, H&M, Aldi and Lidl ‰?? that have committed to the Greenpeace Detox Campaign.
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LAB TESTS: CHEMICALS LINKED TO BIRTH DEFECTS FOUND IN MOST MAC & CHEESE PRODUCTS
Tags: public, discovery, environmental, other_chemical
SAN FRANCISCO, CA (WCMH) ‰?? Two million boxes of macaroni and cheese are sold every day here in the United States, but could serving up one of America‰??s favorite comfort foods be exposing you to harmful chemicals?
The tried and true box of mac n cheese you feed your kids could be downright dangerous, according to new lab tests.
The study of 30 cheese products, including 10 kinds of mac and cheese, found toxic industrial chemicals phthalates in all but one of the samples. The study says the highest concentrations were found in the highly processed cheese powder in boxed mac and cheese mixes, including nine products made by Kraft.
‰??The phthalate concentrations in powder from mac and cheese mixes were more than four times higher than in block cheese and other natural cheeses like shredded cheese, string cheese and cottage cheese,‰?? Mike Belliveau, executive director of the Environmental Health Strategy Center told the New York Times.
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NC CHANGES GOVERNORS, KEEPS CANCER-CAUSING CHEMICAL STANDARD
Tags: us_NC, public, follow-up, environmental, other_chemical
RALEIGH - As a Democratic gubernatorial candidate last fall, Roy Cooper blasted his Republican opponent for adopting a more lenient standard than what‰??s recommended by North Carolina‰??s health agency for cancer-causing hexavalent chromium in well water.
Now that he‰??s governor, Cooper‰??s environmental agency has decided to keep that same standard, infuriating people who say their well water is contaminated and enabling former Gov. Pat McCrory to call Cooper a hypocrite.
The state Department of Environmental Quality‰??s guidelines for the well-water filtering systems Duke Energy will be required by law to install for some neighbors of its North Carolina coal-ash storage pits were announced last week. They match the standard for protecting against hexavalent chromium that McCrory‰??s administration adopted, which is about 140 times higher than the amount the state‰??s health agency says could harm human health if exceeded.
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STATE DRASTICALLY LOWERS 'SAFE' LEVEL OF CHEMICAL GENX IN CAPE FEAR RIVER :: WRAL.COM
Tags: us_NC, public, discovery, environmental, other_chemical
The state departments of Environmental Quality and Health and Human Services released the updated information Friday afternoon.
The Cape Fear River is the source of drinking water for hundreds of thousands of people in eastern North Carolina.
Chemours, a chemical manufacturing plant near Fayetteville, has been discharging the compound into the Cape Fear watershed for years. Water near the plant was tested several weeks ago. At the time, officials said it was well below the state‰??s preliminary health risk threshold of 71,000 parts per trillion.
However, after consulting with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, state officials lowered the health safety threshold for GenX to 140 parts per trillion. Samples taken as recently as June 22nd tested at several times that level.
According to DHHS, the updated threshold is based on toxicology data and is still subject to change.
There is little data on the long-term health effects of GenX in drinking water. Samples were analyzed at the EPA lab in Research Triangle Park and at a lab in Colorado under contract to Chemours.
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THE LOUISIANA ENVIRONMENTAL APOCALYPSE ROAD TRIP LOUISIANA SERVES AS A TERRIFYING EXAMPLE OF WHAT CAN BECOME OF A STATE THAT SHORTCHANGES SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATIONS TO BOOST INDUSTRY AND INFRASTRUCTURE.
Tags: us_la, discovery, industrial, enviromental
If you‰??re visiting New Orleans and want to see something truly amazing, take your beer or daiquiri to-go and walk a few blocks past the Superdome‰??you‰??ll find a school being constructed on an old waste dump.
‰??All the toxins from the landfill are still there,‰?? says toxicologist Wilma Subra. These toxins include lead, mercury, and arsenic, exposure to which can lead to reproductive damage, and skin and lung cancer. Even more astonishing, Subra says hundreds of schools across Louisiana have been built on waste dumps. Why? Dumps represent cheap land often already owned by a cash-strapped town or city, plus serve as rare high ground in a flood-prone state. And this is just the beginning of Louisiana‰??s nightmare.
The risk of cancer in Reserve, a community founded by freed slaves, is 800 times the national average, making the community, by one EPA metric, the most carcinogenic census tract in America‰??the cause is a DuPont/Denka chemical plant adjacent to the town that annually spews 250,000 pounds of the likely carcinogen chloroprene into the air. If you think the situation in Flint is bad, there are approximately 400 public water systems in Louisiana with lead or other hazardous substances leaching into the drinking water. Meanwhile, hundreds of petrochemical plants peppered across the state‰??s lush swampy interior freely emit carcinogens, endocrine disruptors, and neurotoxins into the air and water, as well as inject them deep into the earth.
Perhaps it‰??s no surprise that Louisiana is ranked, according to different surveys, 47th in environmental quality, third in poverty, and 49th in education. Are you still gushing about your latest trip to New Orleans for Jazz Fest Presented by Shell, or French Quarter Festival presented by Chevron? ‰??New Orleans is the best,‰?? one visitor recently wrote to me, ‰??you are so smart to live there!‰?? But how smart is it to allow children to attend school built on toxin-laced waste? How smart is it to allow a community‰??s cancer rates to shoot off the charts? Louisiana is rich in culture, spirit, and faith, yet what type of state knowingly poisons its own people? What type of country stands by and allows it to happen?
While it is fashionable to critique President Trump for his scientific ignorance, science was misdirected long before Trump laid hands on it. It is time to open our eyes and see what is really going on in this world, to critique our society‰??s dinosaur methods, then step back and imagine what a new path forward might look like. It is with this aim that I begin a science column for Longreads. In my first story I‰??ll tour us through a land America should have never allowed to materialize‰??it‰??s what I‰??m calling the Louisiana Environmental Apocalypse Road Trip. As the Trump administration chucks environmental science out the window, evaporates industry regulations, and cripples agencies charged with protecting the environment, this tale is relevant for all Americans, because the poisoning happening in Louisiana could happen in your state too‰??in fact, it is probably already happening.
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