From: Secretary ACS DCHAS <secretary**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] CHAS Tweets and Chemical Safety headlines (9 articles)
Date: Fri, 31 Jan 2014 08:07:58 -0500
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: E96D7DA2-571B-4966-89FF-31D88946BB8A**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org


**At_Symbol_Here**ACSDCHAS and **At_Symbol_Here**LabSustain tweets and Chemical Safety Headlines
A service of the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety
Connecting Chemistry and Safety at http://www.dchas.org
Tweets available on our ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety (DCHAS) Facebook Page
Tagged Article summaries are available at http://pinboard.in/u:dchas

acsdchas RT **At_Symbol_Here**macinchem: ChemSpider Safari Extension updated http://t.co/tvFHtOHKDw

cornelllabsafe ES&T: Vehicle Engines Produce Exhaust Nanoparticles When Braking http://t.co/yvG86wVtUM

acsdchas When asking 4 advice in preventing MSDs ask 4 evidence 4 effectiveness AND quality of evidence #ErgoQualityResources http://t.co/dGaXvQlEW8

acsdchas C&EN: U.K. Approves Fracking Prime Minister supports natural-gas-extraction method, big oil company already invested http://t.co/PMt2LlpTUC

labsustain Energy Foundations for High School Chemistry website includes investigations, demos, and links to multimedia. http://t.co/e4y08MZrAd

cornelllabsafe **At_Symbol_Here**jchemhealthsafe Adding amines to steam used for humidification http://t.co/VDZtIVg3i3

acsdchas C&EN: Monsanto Seed Case Closed: Supreme Court refuses challenge to company?s ability to sue http://t.co/sqewc5Dq35 http://t.co/IzK2sj7Q2H

labsustain Reporting on Science: Scientists have role to play in the news , but they are often reluctant participants. http://t.co/7H8ZSwQEtm

cornelllabsafe JChemEd: SQER3: An Framework for Using Scientific Inquiry To Design Classroom Demonstrations http://t.co/89IZUdTflc http://t.co/mNJfnLdguB

acsdchas C&EN: Making Fuel While Cleaning Up Arsenic http://t.co/vCQuHAAlxW http://t.co/G8N04pumk4

labsustain JChemEd: Using a Deliberative Exercise To Foster Public Engagement in Nanotechnology http://t.co/PZn55D4mMF http://t.co/rYd4gR9fYr

labsustain Descriptive Social Norms as Underappreciated Sources of Social Control http://t.co/PnS0kHIkyY


Table of Contents (9 articles)

CHEMICAL PLANT SAFETY: INDUSTRY WARNS AGAINST REQUIRING USE OF INHERENTLY SAFER TECHNOLOGIES
Tags: industrial, follow-up, environmental

ANIMAL SCIENCES LABORATORY FIRE CAUSED BY CHEMICAL IGNITION
Tags: us_IL, laboratory, fire, response, ether

2 STUDENTS HOSPITALIZED AFTER REACTION TO CHEMISTRY EXPERIMENT
Tags: us_CO, education, release, injury, unknown_chemical

STUDENT CHARGED AFTER CHEMICAL INCIDENT AT SKYVIEW ACADEMY
Tags: us_CO, education, follow-up, injury, bomb, illegal

CHEMICAL INDUSTRY TAKES ON U.S. GREEN BUILDING COUNCIL?S LEED STANDARDS AT OHIO STATEHOUSE
Tags: us_OH, public, discovery, environmental

HAZMAT CREWS INVESTIGATE BENZENE SPILL ON SOUTHWEST SIDE
Tags: us_IN, industrial, release, response, benzene

FATAL CHEMICAL ACCIDENTS EXPOSE WEAK FEDERAL LAWS
Tags: industrial, follow-up, environmental

W.VA. OFFICIALS DISPUTE FORMALDEHYDE CLAIM
Tags: us_WV, public, follow-up, environmental, formaldehyde

UPDATED: MAN DIES AFTER P LAB EXPLOSION IN NORTHLAND
Tags: New_Zealand, public, explosion, death, meth_lab


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

CHEMICAL PLANT SAFETY: INDUSTRY WARNS AGAINST REQUIRING USE OF INHERENTLY SAFER TECHNOLOGIES
http://cen.acs.org/articles/92/web/2014/01/Chemical-Plant-Safety.html
Tags: industrial, follow-up, environmental

The chemical industry has a clear message for the Obama Administration: Do not force manufacturing and storage facilities to adopt so-called inherently safer technology (IST). Requirements for IST, the industry warns, could mean phasing out hazardous but essential chemicals and costly changes to the way plants operate.
In a Jan. 23 letter to President Barack Obama and an interagency working group, 13 trade associations say that current regulations and the marketplace itself ?already provide strong incentives? for companies to reduce risks associated with chemical facilities. Signatories include the American Chemistry Council, the Society of Chemical Manufacturers & Affiliates, the Chlorine Institute, the Fertilizer Institute, and the National Association of Chemical Distributors.
The working group is tasked with improving the safety and security of chemical plants and storage depots in response to the deadly ammonium nitrate explosion in West, Texas, last April. It includes the heads of several federal agencies.

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

ANIMAL SCIENCES LABORATORY FIRE CAUSED BY CHEMICAL IGNITION
http://www.dailyillini.com/news/campus/article_46442ed4-8940-11e3-a3bb-0017a43b2370.html
Tags: us_IL, laboratory, fire, response, ether

Update (2:45 p.m., Thursday): The Urbana Fire Department has determined the small fire was started by a highly flammable liquid and a heat source. The liquid was a ether, which is used to turn solid substances into a liquid.
Urbana Fire Prevention Officer Jeremy Leevey said he doesn't know what caused the chemicals to ignite.
The department says it does not have a damage estimate at this time. Small pieces of equipment, plastics and petri dishes were damaged in the fire, but the building was not, Leevey said.
The fire department was dispatched at 4:31 p.m., and the fire was almost immediately put out, Leevey said.

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

2 STUDENTS HOSPITALIZED AFTER REACTION TO CHEMISTRY EXPERIMENT
http://www.kktv.com/home/headlines/2-Students-Hospitalized-After-Reaction-To-Chemistry-Experiment-242797001.html
Tags: us_CO, education, release, injury, unknown_chemical

District 49 tells us that two Falcon High School students were transported to the hospital Thursday morning after showing signs of an allergic reaction during a chemistry experiment.

The district says 125 students total were exposed to the experiment.

HAZMAT is at the school now checking the chemicals used to make sure they weren't expired or that there is anything else unusual about them. At this time, D-49 says nothing out of the ordinary has been found and a sulfur allergy is suspected.

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

STUDENT CHARGED AFTER CHEMICAL INCIDENT AT SKYVIEW ACADEMY
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_25028862/student-charged-after-chemical-incident-at-skyview-academy
Tags: us_CO, education, follow-up, injury, bomb, illegal

Prosecutors have charged a SkyView Academy student with a felony explosives charge and several misdemeanor assault charges in a chemical bottle-bomb blast earlier this month that sent five students and a teacher to the hospital.

While Douglas County sheriff's investigators initially detained two juvenile males in the incident, the investigation by sheriff's officials and prosecutors have "found one juvenile to be culpable," said Michelle Yi, spokeswoman for the 18th Judicial District Attorney's office.

Authorities cannot release the boy's name because he's a juvenile defendant, Yi said. He's been charged with one felony count of possession of an explosive or incendiary device and five misdemeanor assault counts.

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

CHEMICAL INDUSTRY TAKES ON U.S. GREEN BUILDING COUNCIL?S LEED STANDARDS AT OHIO STATEHOUSE
http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2014/01/30/resolution-that-would-halt-leed.html
Tags: us_OH, public, discovery, environmental

Chemical groups took to the Statehouse this week with a clear message to the U.S. Green Building Council: Keep your hands off of our vinyl.
Ohio Concurrent Senate Resolution 25 was introduced last year by Joe Uecker, R-Loveland, and Tim Schaffer, R-Lancaster, to stop state government from using the U.S. Green Building Council?s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design building practices. Instead, the resolution advocates using American National Standards Institute practices because, it says, they?re more grounded in science.
The resolution got its first hearing earlier this week and chemical and manufacturing boosters laid out their case against some of the Green Building Council?s credits.

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

HAZMAT CREWS INVESTIGATE BENZENE SPILL ON SOUTHWEST SIDE
http://www.wibc.com/news/story.aspx?ID=2117448
Tags: us_IN, industrial, release, response, benzene

Hazmat crews were called to the scene of a possible benzene spill Wednesday night at a plant on the city's southwest side.

Captain Mike Pruitt with the Wayne Township Fire Department says officials at the Vertellus Specialties plant at 1500 South Tibbs Avenue were concerned of a possible benzene leak and one of their employees had been exposed. Hazmat crews found a crack in a 10,000 gallon tank which had been emptied but may have had residual product inside.

Pruitt says the employee had been exposed to benzene vapor. He was decontaminated and taken to Eskenazi Health in good condition.

Investigators believe the tank was cracked while employees were steam cleaning it. Pruitt says no actual benzene product spilled out of the tank.

Pruitt says Vertellus officials immediately began monitoring the area around the plant and found no danger. Fire department crews found no additional danger inside the plant.

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

FATAL CHEMICAL ACCIDENTS EXPOSE WEAK FEDERAL LAWS
http://www.greenvilleonline.com/usatoday/article/4794647
Tags: industrial, follow-up, environmental

Tammy Miser and Katherine Rodriguez share a heartbreaking bond. They've each lost a loved one -- a brother, a father -- to chemical accidents a decade ago that burned at least 80% of the men's bodies.

The U.S. government, after investigating the tragedies in Indiana and Texas, recommended changes in federal rules so more such industrial explosions wouldn't happen.

But more have happened, and the two women are still waiting for Washington to deliver.

"I'm extremely frustrated. Almost all the families (of victims) are," says Miser, whose brother Shawn Boone was killed at age 33 in an aluminum dust explosion at the former Hayes Lemmerz factory in Huntington, Ind., in October 2003.

Their stories reveal glaring gaps in the nation's web of laws that govern the use of hazardous chemicals -- a cautionary tale as West Virginia tries to clean up a massive chemical spill begun earlier this month.

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

W.VA. OFFICIALS DISPUTE FORMALDEHYDE CLAIM
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/01/29/freedom-industries-spill-formaldehyde/5031963/
Tags: us_WV, public, follow-up, environmental, formaldehyde

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) ? State officials and a water company strongly disputed a scientist's claim Wednesday that residents were likely breathing in traces of formaldehyde while showering after the chemical spill, saying the chemical that tainted the water supply only produces the carcinogen at extremely high temperatures.

The crude MCHM that spilled into the water supply on Jan. 9 ultimately can break down into formaldehyde, West Virginia Environmental Quality Board vice-chairman Scott Simonton told a state legislative panel Wednesday. Simonton, who is also an environmental scientist at Marshall University, said the formaldehyde showed up in three water samples at a downtown Charleston restaurant as part of testing funded by a law firm representing businesses that lost money during the spill.

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

UPDATED: MAN DIES AFTER P LAB EXPLOSION IN NORTHLAND
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503450&objectid=11194133
Tags: New_Zealand, public, explosion, death, meth_lab

A man has died as a result of injuries suffered in an explosion at a Northland property.

Police have confirmed a 49-year-old-man passed away at 12.20pm today.

The other injured person, a male, aged 26 years has been transferred to Middlemore Hospital for specialist treatment of the burns he received.

His condition is described as stable.

The examination of the scene continues with specialist police staff, ESR and Fire Safety to establish the exact cause of the explosion.

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

Previous post   |  Top of Page   |   Next post



The content of this page reflects the personal opinion(s) of the author(s) only, not the American Chemical Society, ILPI, Safety Emporium, or any other party. Use of any information on this page is at the reader's own risk. Unauthorized reproduction of these materials is prohibited. Send questions/comments about the archive to secretary@dchas.org.
The maintenance and hosting of the DCHAS-L archive is provided through the generous support of Safety Emporium.