From: "Secretary, ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety" <secretary**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines from Google (7 articles)
Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2017 07:47:28 -0500
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
Message-ID: 8DB5D658-EF0E-400D-A839-81447B7FFF5E**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org


Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Friday, December 22, 2017 at 7:47:17 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 (7 articles)

1 DEAD, 1 INJURED AFTER GAS LEAK, EXPLOSION, FIRE AT PHOENIX HOM
Tags: us_AZ, public, explosion, death, unknown_chemical

MERCURY FOUND IN HUMAN BONES IN 'VOODOO STUFF' SHUT DOWN MEDICAL EXAMINER'S OFFICE
Tags: us_FL, laboratory, release, injury, mercury

BUILDING EVACUATED IN NORTH AUSTIN AFTER CHEMICAL RELEASE
Tags: us_TX, laboratory, release, response, unknown_chemical

'THE SUBSTANCE EMITTED A PURPLE HAZE EACH TIME IT ACTIVATED AND IT SOUNDED LIKE A .22'
Tags: us_OR, public, release, response, bomb, sodium_bicarbonate

INSURER DOESN‰??T HAVE TO COVER WASTEWATER COMPANY‰??S EXPLOSION
Tags: us_ca, explosion, industrial, follow-up, peroxides

FRAGRANCE BODY ADDS PHTHALATES TO INDUSTRY TRANSPARENCY LIST
Tags: us, public, discovery, environmental, toxics

FDA GIVES MANUFACTURERS A YEAR TO REMOVE TRICLOSAN FROM HEALTHCARE ANTISEPTICS
Tags: us, discovery, industrial, response, enviromental, disinfectant


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1 DEAD, 1 INJURED AFTER GAS LEAK, EXPLOSION, FIRE AT PHOENIX HOM
Tags: us_AZ, public, explosion, death, unknown_chemical

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) -
A gas leak, explosion and huge fire at a Phoenix home left one person dead and one critically injured.

It happened Thursday just before 10 a.m. near 11th Avenue and Fillmore Street.

The home was leveled, and the flames spread to a house next door.

"When our crews got here, they found a home that was nearly completely destroyed. A very large burning active fire," said Phoenix fire Capt. Jake Van Hook. "They didn't know it at the time but it was being driven by gas that had broken or had some involvement in the explosion and the fire."

Neighbors say they felt the explosion.

"Well, I was in my kitchen and I heard a blast; a big concussion in my house," said neighbor James McCoy. "And I ran outside, and in the house, I could see fire and smoke like the whole house had blown up."

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

MERCURY FOUND IN HUMAN BONES IN 'VOODOO STUFF' SHUT DOWN MEDICAL EXAMINER'S OFFICE
Tags: us_FL, laboratory, release, injury, mercury

The autopsy suite at the Medical Examiner‰??s Office in Leesburg remains closed two days after mercury mixed with human remains ‰?? believed to be part of a ritual tied to Santeria, a religion practiced in parts of the Caribbean ‰?? was brought to the lab.

The remains were discovered Sunday alongside animal bones, antlers and beads at the Ocala Boat Basin, also known as Ray Wayside Park, in Silver Springs, a Marion County community.

‰??They came into the office and when they started cleaning the pot and the beads and all the voodoo stuff, they found the mercury,‰?? Lindsey Bayer, director of operations at the 5th District Medical Examiner‰??s Office for five counties including Lake, said Thursday. ‰??That‰??s when we called hazmat.‰??

Prolonged exposure to mercury vapors may result in what is commonly called mad hatter disease, which involves symptoms including mood swings, irritability, nervousness and headaches. The Department of Environmental Protection was called to help clear out the autopsy suite and the building‰??s water was shut down.

‰??There were some citizens there at the boat ramp that saw what they thought could be some human remains in the water,‰?? Marion County Sheriff‰??s Office spokeswoman Lauren Lettelier said.

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BUILDING EVACUATED IN NORTH AUSTIN AFTER CHEMICAL RELEASE
Tags: us_TX, laboratory, release, response, unknown_chemical

A State Health Services building in North Austin has been evacuated after a small chemical release in a lab, according to the Austin Fire Department.

Firefighters responded to the building in the 1100 block of West 49th Street around 4 p.m., and are working with laboratory staff to mitigate the release.

Additional details on the chemical were not immediately available.

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'THE SUBSTANCE EMITTED A PURPLE HAZE EACH TIME IT ACTIVATED AND IT SOUNDED LIKE A .22'
Tags: us_OR, public, release, response, bomb, sodium_bicarbonate

HARBOR, Ore. - A high school chemistry teacher helped firefighters figure out how to neutralize a mysterious substance that emitted a purple haze and sounded like a gun shot when touched, the Curry County Sheriff's Office said.
Initial calls to 911 Tuesday indicated "unknown subjects had thrown what appeared to be multiple smoke bombs onto floors and that the substance was continually cracking and popping" at Wild River Pizza in Harbor, the sheriff's office said.
Law enforcement determined someone had spread a chemical on the floor.
The unknown stuff "continued to activate by touch or stepping on it. The substance emitted a purple haze each time it activated and it sounded like a .22 caliber gun shot going off," Sheriff John Ward said.
Firefighters secured the area, and the building was evacuated.
A chemistry teacher from Brookings Harbor High School "determined that the chemical substance could be neutralized by baking soda," the sheriff said. "The Harbor Fire Department cleaned the area and made it safe for re-entry."
Investigators reviewed security video and determined at least 3 suspects were involved.
Brookings Police identified one of the suspects Wednesday as James Snyder, 40, of Harbor.
Deputies contacted Snyder at his home just before noon and placed him under arrest. Detectives obtained a searched warrant for the home and located "what appeared to be chemicals and bomb related items," Ward said. "The Oregon State Police Bomb Squad was contacted and at their request, the residence was vacated until they could arrive."

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INSURER DOESN‰??T HAVE TO COVER WASTEWATER COMPANY‰??S EXPLOSION
Tags: us_ca, explosion, industrial, follow-up, peroxides

(CN) ‰?? A California appellate court ruled on Wednesday in favor of an insurance company in its battle with a wastewater facility that was storing hazardous materials on its site when a major explosion occurred there in 2014.

A three-judge panel of California‰??s Second Appellate District unanimously affirmed a lower court ruling that held Allied Insurance was within its rights when it withheld $2.5 million in a payout to Santa Clara Waste Water and its subsidiary trucking company, Green Compass Environmental Solutions.

‰??(A)ll that Allied had to establish was the probability that their policy did not cover the damages,‰?? wrote Justice Martin Tangeman on behalf of the panel in a 12-page opinion. ‰??Allied did so by showing that the 11 noncompliance policy exclusion applied and that SCWW and GCES misrepresented and concealed material facts.‰??

Allied paid Santa Clara $2.5 million, less than half of the policy‰??s limit, because it said the company violated the policy by concealing the fact it was illegally harboring hazardous materials on site.

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

FRAGRANCE BODY ADDS PHTHALATES TO INDUSTRY TRANSPARENCY LIST
Tags: us, public, discovery, environmental, toxics

In what one NGO calls a "troubling" development, the International Fragrance Association has added four phthalates to its online transparency list of ingredients currently being used in consumer goods.

The phthalates dimethyl phthalate (DMP), di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), dibutyl phthalate (DBP) and dioctylphthalates (structural isomer to DEHP) were among 750 items added to the list in October. DBP and DEHP are banned from use in cosmetics in Europe.

Also added was styrene oxide which is included in the US on California's Proposition 65 and the National Toxicology Program's carcinogens list.
The list, which now totals 3,999 ingredients, was generated from the Ifra volume of use survey for 2015. This survey is carried out on a regular basis among the trade body's affiliated member companies, representing approximately 90% of the world‰??s production volume of fragrances.

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FDA GIVES MANUFACTURERS A YEAR TO REMOVE TRICLOSAN FROM HEALTHCARE ANTISEPTICS
Tags: us, discovery, industrial, response, enviromental, disinfectant

The Food and Drug Administration is banning the use of an active ingredient commonly found in hospital antiseptic products, citing safety and efficacy concerns, but the ban won't begin for a full year.

The agency on Tuesday finalized a rule requiring makers of hand washes, hand rubs, surgical hand scrubs, surgical hand rubs, and patient antiseptic preoperative skin preparations to reformulate their products without the ingredient triclosan, a chemical that has been associated with health risks and a possible contributor to the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

In all, 24 ingredients were cited as being "not generally recognized as safe and effective" by the FDA in its ruling, and they will be banned from the over-the-counter healthcare antiseptic product market effective Dec. 20, 2018. Products containing the banned ingredients will either have to be removed from the market, reformulated or undergo approval as a new drug application.

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