From: "Secretary, ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety" <secretary**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines from Google (10 articles)
Date: April 25, 2012 7:49:01 AM EDT
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: <75F9BBED-F823-493C-8F07-B22418F46E3B**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org>

Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Wednesday, April 25, 2012 7:48:21 AM

A service of the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety
Connecting Chemistry and Safety at http://www.dchas.org
All article summaries and tags are archived at http://pinboard.in/u:dchas

Table of Contents (10 articles)

MICH. HAZMAT CREWS ON SITE OF BROKEN THERMOMETERS
Tags: us_MI, public, release, response, mercury

RURAL CHEMICAL FERTILIZER SPILL CLOSES ROADS
Tags: us_IL, transportation, release, response, diesel, pesticides

QUESTIONS SURROUND SULFURIC ACID SPILL ALONG HIGHWAY 60 IN BARTOW
Tags: us_FL, transportation, release, response, sulfuric_acid

VINA POLICE INVESTIGATING MONDAY NIGHT METH LAB EXPLOSION
Tags: us_AL, public, explosion, injury, meth_lab

SOUTHEAST PORTLAND INDUSTRIAL FIRE FORCES FIREFIGHTERS TO USE SAND
Tags: us_OR, industrial, fire, response, magnesium

1 DEAD IN CHEMICAL PLANT BLAST
Tags: China, industrial, explosion, death, adhesives

A MODEL TO PREDICT NANOPARTICLE TOXICITY
Tags: public, discovery, environmental, metals, nanoparticles

C&EN REPORT ON ESCONIDO EXPLOSIVES HOUSE SEMINAR
Tags: us_CA, public, follow-up, injury, bomb, explosives

7 TREATED FOR CARBON MONOXIDE LEAK AT ARIZONA BAGEL SHOP
Tags: us_AZ, public, release, injury, carbon_monoxide

AMMONIA LEAK PROMPTS EVACUATION AT MADISONVILLE COCA-COLA PLANT
Tags: us_OH, industrial, release, response, ammonia


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MICH. HAZMAT CREWS ON SITE OF BROKEN THERMOMETERS
http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/index.ssf/story/mich-hazmat-crews-on-site-of-broken-thermometers/433603af025e48b987589f23e3e8bc7b
Tags: us_MI, public, release, response, mercury

MONROE, Mich. (AP) Ñ Hazardous materials crews have been called to deal with a box of broken thermometers found in a metal trash bin at a Michigan hospital.

Monroe police Sgt. Charles McCormick IV tells The Monroe Evening News (http://bit.ly/I88I9R ) the roughly 2-foot-by-2-foot box contained several thermometers that apparently broke and spilled a small amount of mercury.

Cleanup teams were sent to Mercy Memorial Hospital in Monroe on Tuesday to dispose of the toxic chemical. Monroe is located near the Ohio border about 35 miles southwest of Detroit.

The Monroe fire department cordoned off a 150-foot area of the trash bin that's located on the side of the hospital building.

---------------------------------------------

RURAL CHEMICAL FERTILIZER SPILL CLOSES ROADS
http://www.pekintimes.com/news/x787569704/Rural-chemical-fertilizer-spill-closes-roads
Tags: us_IL, transportation, release, response, diesel, pesticides

PEKIN, Ill. Ñ
Fire department personnel from Morton and Pekin and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency responded this morning to a spill of herbicide chemicals into a creek south of Morton that prompted road closings in the area.

A strong chemical odor was present about 1,000 feet from the area of Allentown Road between Baer Road and Fourth Street. Workers posted "Emergency Scene Ahead" signs on Baer Road between Morton and Tremont.

An agricultural spreader carrying about 1,200 gallons of herbicide chemicals tipped over into a creek, releasing an unknown amount of the herbicide, as well as oil and diesel fuel from the vehicle, into the water, according to a press release issued by Morton Fire Department Chief Joe Kelley.

---------------------------------------------

QUESTIONS SURROUND SULFURIC ACID SPILL ALONG HIGHWAY 60 IN BARTOW
http://www.wtsp.com/news/article/252528/250/Chemical-spill-shuts-down-major-highway-in-Bartow
Tags: us_FL, transportation, release, response, sulfuric_acid

Bartow, Florida -- An accident leading to an sulfuric acid spill shut down a major road in Polk County for several hours Tuesday, and the driver of the truck carrying those corrosive chemicals had to be airlifted to Tampa.

Hazmat workers, wearing protective suits, worked for hours neutralizing and then removing the acid, which had soaked the pavement and penetrated the soil along Highway 60 north of downtown Bartow.

A thousand gallons of the material somehow spilled from a flat-bed operated by Davis Supply out of Ft. Myers with an office in Lake Wales.

---------------------------------------------

VINA POLICE INVESTIGATING MONDAY NIGHT METH LAB EXPLOSION
http://www.waaytv.com/news/local/story/Vina-Police-Investigating-Monday-Night-Meth-Lab/X4zxr-mZWkO82yIHWEYRPA.cspx
Tags: us_AL, public, explosion, injury, meth_lab

VINA, Ala.- One man was injured in a house fire investigators believe was caused by a meth lab explosion.

Vina fire and Hodges/Vina police responded to residence on hwy 19 in Vina around 6 p.m. Monday. When they arrived emergency first responders found 33-year-old Johny Bell with possible chemical burns.

Bell was transported to Eliza Coffee Hospital where he was treated for possible chemical burns and turned over to law enforcement on drug drug charges.

---------------------------------------------

SOUTHEAST PORTLAND INDUSTRIAL FIRE FORCES FIREFIGHTERS TO USE SAND
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2012/04/southeast_portland_industrial.html
Tags: us_OR, industrial, fire, response, magnesium

A stubborn Monday-morning industrial fire involving magnesium shavings forced nearby businesses in the 2400 block of Southeast 10th Avenue to evacuate as a precaution, Portland Fire & Rescue reported.

Firefighters arrived at Oregon Engraving & Rubber Plates, 2415 S.E. 10th Avenue, and attacked with dry chemical and CO2 extinguishers.

The fire was tough to extinguish because it involved magnesium shavings and plates, firefighters said. A Hazardous Materials Response Team was called to the scene. Smoke from the shavings could cause problems if inhaled, firefighters said. Neighboring businesses were evacuated, and pedestrians on the street were told to move.

---------------------------------------------

1 DEAD IN CHEMICAL PLANT BLAST
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T120422002576.htm
Tags: China, industrial, explosion, death, adhesives

YAMAGUCHI (Jiji-Daily Yomiuri)--One male employee died and 11 were injured at a chemical plant in an explosion in Waki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, in the hours just before dawn on Sunday.

The blast occurred at about 2:15 a.m. in one of the plants at Mitsui Chemicals, Inc.'s Iwakuni-Otake factory, causing a fire. According to the prefectural government and other sources, the explosion affected about 410 households in Waki and Iwakuni, both in the prefecture, as well as neighboring Otake, Hiroshima Prefecture, breaking residents' windows. Police reported nine residents were injured.

Shota Sunakawa, 22, a plant employee, died in the explosion, according to Iwakuni Police Station. No noxious gas is believed to have been produced despite the fire that broke out, police said. The Yamaguchi prefectural police are questioning plant officials on suspicion of professional negligence resulting in death.

According to the company, two employees near the explosion site were seriously injured and five others were harmed. Four employees of another company sustained minor injuries.

Plant manager Shigeru Hara said the accident occurred at a plant manufacturing resorcin, a material for making an adhesive agent commonly used in tire production. According to Hara, after a facility responsible for supplying steam to the factory unexpectedly stopped, operations at about 70 percent of its plants were suddenly halted.

---------------------------------------------

A MODEL TO PREDICT NANOPARTICLE TOXICITY
http://cen.acs.org/articles/90/web/2012/04/Model-Predict-Nanoparticle-Toxicity.html
Tags: public, discovery, environmental, metals, nanoparticles

As nanoparticles increasingly make their way into consumer products and the environment, toxicologists want to understand their effects on human health. Ideally, they'd like to develop models that predict a material's toxicity based on its chemical properties. Now a research team reports the first such model for metal oxide nanoparticles that uses the materials' electrical and solubility properties (ACS Nano, DOI: 10.1021/nn3010087).
Metal oxide nanoparticles are semiconducting materials that drive oxidation and reduction reactions in devices such as fuel cells and electronics. Previous studies have linked the materials to health problems, such as inflammation in the lungs of welders who inhale fumes containing the compounds (Toxicol. Appl. Pharmacol., DOI: 10.1016/j.taap.2003.11.021).

---------------------------------------------

C&EN REPORT ON ESCONIDO EXPLOSIVES HOUSE SEMINAR
http://cen.acs.org/articles/90/i17/Burning-Down-House.html
Tags: us_CA, public, follow-up, injury, bomb, explosives

On Thursday, Nov. 18, 2010, a gardener was seriously injured when he stepped on some gravel in the yard of a San Diego-area home and the ground exploded beneath his feet. Subsequent investigation of the house and its grounds revealed what authorities called the largest cache of homemade explosives ever found in the U.S. They deemed the house too dangerous to clean out and burned it down instead.

At the American Chemical Society national meeting in San Diego last month, in a symposium organized by the Division of Chemical Health & Safety, officials described how the incident unfolded.

Fire and ambulance crews initially responded to the scene; then they called the San Diego County Sheriff's Department when they realized that the gardener's injuries were from an explosion, said Nick Vent, an environmental health specialist in the Hazardous Materials Division of the San Diego County Department of Environmental Health.

Sheriff's officers subsequently took the house resident, George Djura Jakubec, then 54, into custody for questioning; brought in bomb squad and hazmat crews; and evacuated the neighbors. The property is in a residential area, on unincorporated land but surrounded by the city of Escondido in northern San Diego County. It is also a few hundred feet from Interstate 15.

---------------------------------------------

7 TREATED FOR CARBON MONOXIDE LEAK AT ARIZONA BAGEL SHOP
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/04/23/7-treated-for-carbon-monoxide-leak-at-arizona-bagel-shop/
Tags: us_AZ, public, release, injury, carbon_monoxide

A Phoenix bagel shop had to be evacuated Saturday after a carbon monoxide leak left seven employees in need of medical treatment.

Two workers at Einstein Bros. Bagel went home ill Saturday morning after complaining of dizziness, nausea and of feeling lightheaded.

One went to the hospital where they were diagnosed with carbon monoxide poisoning, The Arizona Republic reported.

The hospital alerted the fire department, who arrived at the bagel shop about 1:40 p.m. Firefighters discovered a leak in the hood of a stove and closed the shop.

Five more employees were discovered to be displaying the symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, and three were taken to the hospital but were in stable condition, said Dorian Jackson, a spokesman for the Phoenix Fire Department.

---------------------------------------------

AMMONIA LEAK PROMPTS EVACUATION AT MADISONVILLE COCA-COLA PLANT
http://www.wcpo.com/dpp/news/region_east_cincinnati/madisonville/ammonia-leak-prompts-evacuation-at-madisonville-coca-cola-plant
Tags: us_OH, industrial, release, response, ammonia

CINCINNATI - Officials are investigating what led to an ammonia leak at the Madisonville Coca-Cola plant late Sunday night.

Hazardous material teams, rescue units and Cincinnati fire crews rushed to the Coca-Cola plant, 5100 Duck Creek Road, around 11:55 p.m. after employees reported an ammonia leak. Employees evacuated the building following the leak.

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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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