From: "Secretary, ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety" <secretary**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines from Google (9 articles)
Date: March 13, 2013 7:58:34 AM EDT
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: <43F93194-A5E9-4C68-BF1F-A29EEBD04DA7**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org>

Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Wednesday, March 13, 2013 7:58:21 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 (9 articles)

BP TO ASSESS DAMAGE OF QLD CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: Australia, public, follow-up, environmental, toxics

MONTE NIDO FIRE SPARKED BY ALLEGED DRUG LAB
Tags: us_CA, laboratory, fire, injury, drugs

TWO POLICE OFFICERS TREATED FOR CHEMICAL INHALATION DURING CALL; HAZMAT TEAM CALLED OUT
Tags: us_CA, public, release, injury, acids, meth_lab

HAZMAT INCIDENT IN BELLEAIR INJURES SANITATION WORKER
Tags: us_FL, transportation, release, injury, hydrochloric_acid

HAZMAT CREW TRYING TO CONTAIN A CHEMICAL LEAK NEAR FAYETTE, JESSAMINE LINE
Tags: us_KY, industrial, release, response, nitric_acid

CAN'T BURN THIS: DNA SHOWS SURPRISING FLAME-RETARDANT PROPERTIES
Tags: Italy, laboratory, discovery, response, other_chemical

POLICE LAUNCHED CRIMINAL PROCESS ON FIRE AT OLAINE CHEMICAL PLANT :: THE BALTIC COURSE
Tags: Latvia, industrial, fire, injury, unknown_chemical

EPA PROPOSES SNURS FOR 37 CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES, INCLUDING 14 NANOMATERIALS ON ENVIRONMENTAL EXPERT
Tags: industrial, discovery, environmental, other_chemical

TUNNEL WORKERS EXPOSED TO CARBON MONOXIDE (NZ)
Tags: New_Zealand, industrial, follow-up, response, carbon_monoxide


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BP TO ASSESS DAMAGE OF QLD CHEMICAL SPILL
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/bp-to-assess-damage-of-qld-chemical-spill/story-fn3dxiwe-1226596354844
Tags: Australia, public, follow-up, environmental, toxics

OIL giant BP has been ordered to prepare a report on what damage was caused when a toxic chemical spilled into a far north Queensland waterway.

The Department of Environment and Heritage Protection (EHP) launched an inquiry after 30,000 litres of water containing fluorinated firefighting foam was discharged into a Cairns inlet in January.

The spill, which came from a nearby depot, was caused by a malfunction of fire suppression equipment, a BP spokesman says.

He says there has been no environmental impacts as a result of the spill but BP will co-operate with authorities to further assess any damage.

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

MONTE NIDO FIRE SPARKED BY ALLEGED DRUG LAB
http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=9024576
Tags: us_CA, laboratory, fire, injury, drugs

MONTE NIDO, LOS ANGELES COUNTY (KABC) -- Investigators believe chemicals used to refine marijuana sparked a fire inside a rental home near Malibu Creek State Park Monday.

The flames broke out at the rental home attached to a main house on Crater Camp Drive in the small unincorporated community of Monte Nido

Three men in their early twenties were taken to the hospital with burns to their upper bodies, arms and faces.

Hazmat and narcotics teams looked for evidence of a drug lab at what's left of the house and found indications that the fire was sparked by butane.

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TWO POLICE OFFICERS TREATED FOR CHEMICAL INHALATION DURING CALL; HAZMAT TEAM CALLED OUT
http://www.lakeconews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=30136:two-police-officers-treated-for-chemical-inhalation-during-hazmat-incident&catid=1:latest&Itemid=197
Tags: us_CA, public, release, injury, acids, meth_lab

CLEARLAKE, Calif. - Two Clearlake Police officers were treated at a local hospital on Monday night after they inhaled chemicals while responding to a call at a red-tagged residence in Clearlake.

The call, which would be handled as a hazmat incident, was dispatched at approximately 9:30 p.m. Monday, according to Lt. Tim Celli.

Celli said the two officers - whose names were not released - were dispatched to 16224 26th Ave. for a report of a suspicious person at a red-tagged residence.

It was the same location where officers discovered a methamphetamine lab on Feb. 7. At that time the residence was red-tagged due to the unsafe conditions associated with the property and methamphetamine lab chemicals discovered at the scene, Celli said. The red tag had not been lifted since that date.

When the officers arrived, they contacted 35-year-old Edward Rhinehardt Jurek on the property. In addition, the officers discovered containers that contained what they believed to be chemical liquids which appeared to be in process of reacting, Celli said.

Jurek told the officers he was combining acids to extract gold from computer parts, a method which he discovered on the Internet, according to Celli's report.

Celli explained that, at about the same time, the chemicals violently reacted, producing a cloud vapor which was accidentally inhaled by the two officers.

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HAZMAT INCIDENT IN BELLEAIR INJURES SANITATION WORKER
http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/fire/hazmat-incident-closes-roads-in-belleair/2108424
Tags: us_FL, transportation, release, injury, hydrochloric_acid

BELLEAIR Ñ An incident involving hazardous materials sent a Belleair sanitation worker to the hospital and closed a road and a section of the Pinellas Trail in Belleair for almost three hours Tuesday.

Largo division fire chief David Mixson said sanitation workers discovered a fuming substance in a dump truck shortly before noon.

The workers called emergency responders, who blocked off Ponce de Leon Boulevard between Clearwater-Largo Road and Varona Street and the Pinellas Trail from Rosery Road to Ponce de Leon Boulevard.

Firefighters eventually found a bottle of muriatic acid, also known as hydrochloric acid, in the truck. The chemical is sometimes used for household cleaning, including pool cleaning.

A sanitation worker who inhaled some fumes from the substance was hospitalized and was in stable condition Tuesday afternoon, Mixson said.

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HAZMAT CREW TRYING TO CONTAIN A CHEMICAL LEAK NEAR FAYETTE, JESSAMINE LINE
http://www.kentucky.com/2013/03/11/2553072/hazmat-crew-trying-to-contain.html
Tags: us_KY, industrial, release, response, nitric_acid

Hazardous materials cleanup crews were working Monday night to contain a chemical leak near the Fayette-Jessamine County line.

A 2,400-gallon tank of "a mixture of nitric acid" was leaking at Aulick Chemical Solutions on Eisenhower Court, said John Carpenter, emergency management director for Jessamine County.

Carpenter said the chemical was "reacting to concrete" and causing vapors that were coming out of the building.

Nearby commercial buildings and about a dozen homes in the Tuscany Valle subdivision were evacuated as a precaution, Carpenter said.

He said just before 9 p.m. that the vapors seemed to be dissipating.

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CAN'T BURN THIS: DNA SHOWS SURPRISING FLAME-RETARDANT PROPERTIES
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/03/fireproof-dna/
Tags: Italy, laboratory, discovery, response, other_chemical

In addition to building organisms and storing Shakespeare's sonnets, DNA could also keep your favorite nerd-shirt from going up in flames.

Normally, cotton fabrics are highly flammable. But when scientists tried to set fire to cotton coated with herring sperm DNA, the fabric refused to burn, the team reported in Journal of Materials Chemistry A.

"DNA can be considered as a natural flame retardant and suppressant," said materials scientist Giulio Malucelli, whose lab at Italy's Politecnico di Torino, Alessandria branch, tested the fire-retardant properties of DNA. "It could work also on other synthetic fabrics, or thin or thick plastic films."


Malucelli's lab tested whether the macromolecule could stop fires by using DNA extracted from herring sperm. The team dissolved the DNA in water, coated cotton fabrics with it, let them dry, and tried to light them up. The coating behaved similarly to ammonium polyphosphate, a flame retardant commonly used on polymeric materials such as polyurethanes (found in foams and Spandex) and polyolefins (found in flexible foams and electrical insulation).

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

POLICE LAUNCHED CRIMINAL PROCESS ON FIRE AT OLAINE CHEMICAL PLANT :: THE BALTIC COURSE
http://www.baltic-course.com/eng/markets_and_companies/?doc=71665
Tags: Latvia, industrial, fire, injury, unknown_chemical

The State Police has launched a criminal process on last night's blaze at the Olaine chemical plant Biolars, State Police Riga Regional Department spokesman Toms Sadovskis informed LETA.


The criminal process has been launched over property damage and will establish the cause of the blaze.

State Fire and Rescue Service representative Inga Vetere told LETA that firefighters are still at the scene, making sure that the fire is fully extinguished and nearby chemical substances are not in danger of igniting.

As reported, a large blaze broke out at the Olaine chemical plant Biolars last night, injuring five people, including four firefighters, LETA was informed by the State Fire and Rescue Service.

The fire started shortly after midnight and three three-story buildings were ablaze in an area of 3,000 square meters.

Five persons were injured. A 41-year-old woman suffered extensive burns and was rushed to hospital. Four firefighters suffered from smoke inhalation.

An error in the technological process is being mentioned among the potential causes of the blaze.


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EPA PROPOSES SNURS FOR 37 CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES, INCLUDING 14 NANOMATERIALS ON ENVIRONMENTAL EXPERT
http://www.environmental-expert.com/news/epa-proposes-snurs-for-37-chemical-substances-including-14-nanomaterials-360214?+Press+Releases+-+Health+&+Safety)
Tags: industrial, discovery, environmental, other_chemical

On February 25, 2013, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published proposed significant new use rules (SNUR) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for 37 chemical substances that were the subject of premanufacture notices (PMN). In addition, 17 of the chemical substances are subject to TSCA Section 5(e) consent orders issued by EPA. If issued in final, the SNURs would require persons who intend to manufacture, import, or process the chemical substances for an activity that is designated as a significant new use to notify EPA at least 90 days before commencing that activity. EPA states that the required notification would provide it with the opportunity to evaluate the intended use and, if necessary, to prohibit or limit that activity before it occurs. Comments are due April 26, 2013.

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TUNNEL WORKERS EXPOSED TO CARBON MONOXIDE (NZ)
http://www.safetynetwork.info/article.php?article_id 64
Tags: New_Zealand, industrial, follow-up, response, carbon_monoxide

KiwiRail contractors who were exposed to toxic gases while working in the country's longest rail tunnel were found lying on the ground trying to regain their breath, a union says.

The Rail and Maritime Transport Union said workers were exposed to carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide gases while working in the 8.9km Kaimai Tunnel in the Bay of Plenty in August last year, Radio New Zealand reported.

The union launched its own investigation after it was unsatisfied with KiwiRail's internal investigation into the incident.

It found five workers became weak and disoriented after inhaling gas from petrol-driven equipment being operated in the tunnel, which has no ventilation system.

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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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