Re: new: MT chlorine spill also created aromatic O-Cl's

[Harriet Rosenberg <hrosenbe@YorkU.CA>]

I assume that all this can also be related to the airport fire in 
Germany. Can anyone explain what the enviro health aspects of that fire were?


Harriet Rosenberg
Health and Society Programme
Social Science Division (Arts)		 
York University
Note New E-Mail Address: hrosenbe@yorku.ca 
			
On Sun, 21 Apr 1996 cmcr@ism.net wrote:

> the 11 april '96 ~130,000 lb. Cl2 gas rr derailment, 25 miles west of
> missoula, mt--the 2nd largest release ever--is now known to have created
> chlorophenols, by way of a reaction between the Cl and a cresol compound
> released from an adjoining tank car.
> 
> the likelyhood of large quantity of dioxin formation is quite high and
> should soon be known.  cresol is phenol (which is benzene with an alcohol
> group (-OH) attached), plus an attached methyl (CH3) group.  The compound
> carried was potassium chrysolate, where an potassium cation is ionically
> (loosely) bonded in place of the H of the alcohol group.  Reaction with
> free Cl apparantly knocks off the methyl group as well as the potassium
> (which -O picks up another H+ to become an alcohol group again), resulting
> in a chlorophenol.
> 
> if you went to drug store and asked for a dioxin start-up kit, you would
> probably be given chlorine, oxygen, phenols and heat.  that is, there is no
> better known way to create dioxins than from phenols (apparantly, dioxin
> formation is favored if the Cl has no yet attached to the phenol).  di &
> tri-chlorphenols have been detected on site.  what we do not yet know in
> this instance is how much crysolate was released, and how hot things got in
> this 'reactor vessel' (the spill).  acid-base reactions, such as some of
> these (?), apparantly release heat (details, anyone?).  there was an
> unexplained plume for hours after the accident, possibly a condensation
> plume from a relatively hot reaction zone... finally, we are of course
> pushing authorities for dioxin sampling.
> 
> follows the worksheet i prepared after the accident on free Cl toxicity.
> sorry about the undetailed referencing.  note the study resulting in
> conversion of 19% of free Cl to organochlorine in lab animals 4 days after
> adminstration.
> 
> 
> Questions & Answers -- CHLORINE
> 
> 
> Q.  What Happens To Chlorine Gas (Cl2) When Released To The Environment?
> 
> A. The reaction H2O + Cl2 --> HCl + HOCl happens very readily, whether in a
> body of water, in condensation on a leaf, or in the moist lungs.  In turn,
> the H+ ions will also detach readily unless pH is very low, but the
> resulting ions (Cl- & OCl- ) behave differently.  Chloride (Cl-) is quite
> unreactive, but hypochlorite ion (OCl- ) will react with both carbon
> containing (organic) and inorganic molecules.  Hypochlorite will combine
> with enzymes, hormones, DNA or other biologic molecules, and it will
> combine with carbon chains to form compounds such as chloromethane,
> dichloroethane and chloroform.  It may also attach to any available carbon
> ring compounds such as phenols (e.g. cresol--potassium chrysylate) and
> benzene and form other, very undegradable, compounds such as dioxins (aided
> by heat or by microbial enzymes).
> 
> 
> 
> Q.  What Are The Immediate (Acute) Effects Of Inhaling Airborne Chlorine?
> 
> A. The lungs are irritated by chlorine gas or its acidic derivatives (see
> above).  Effects escalate with time and concentration of exposure.
> Exposure for one hour caused death at 63 ppm for half of a group of mice,
> but just 10 ppm also caused death in almost all mice exposed for 3 hours.
> 
> Nausea, constricted breathing, fluid in the lungs, nose and throat bleeds,
> bronchitis and cardiac irregularity all result from acute exposures
> (irritation also deregulates the immune system, and this may help explain
> the cardiac effects).
> 
> Long term effects from short term exposures are practically unstudied,
> although sensitivity to chlorine and various airway problems have been
> reported in people for months and years afterwards; some problems are
> especially obvious in individuals with existing pulmonary problems.
> 
> 
> 
> Q.  What Are The Effects Of Long Term, Low Level (Chronic) Exposures?
> 
> Also practically unstudied.  We are exposed to chlorine from bleaching
> laundry, drinking water, showering, and possibly at work (usually at higher
> levels there).  It has been shown that 19% of administered hypochlorite to
> mice has converted to organochlorines within 96 hours.  The short chain
> organochlorines such as dichloroethane or vinyl chloride are extremely hard
> for the body to completely metabolize, and partially metabolized products
> are often extremely reactive and damaging to tissue.  Many of these
> compounds have been shown to be carcinogenic in the lab, and there is a
> very solid body of evidence that they increase bladder cancer, and possibly
> other cancers such as of the liver, in humans.
> 
> Additionally, inhalation exposures of 0.58 to 1.51 ppm chlorine for 5 hrs.
> every other day for 9 months to rabbits caused significant weight loss,
> labored respiration, emphysema, internal hemorrhage, and increased
> respiratory tract infection.  Thyroid and, in turn, heart disease, was
> observed at higher (10 ppm) exposures.  Persistent and bioaccumulative
> organochlorines, such as DDT, PCB's, dioxins and furans have a whole range
> of deadly effects, including thyroid and heart disease, many cancers,
> immune disregulation, and--most critically--growth and sexual development.
> 
> sources:
> 'Chemical Summary for Chlorine', US EPA, OPPT, Aug. 1994
> 'Summary Review of Health Effects Associated w/ Cl & HCl', EPA/OHEA, 5-87
> 
> Tony Tweedale             || "I'm not going to get invovled in any
> 224 E. Pine #2            ||  of that peer-reviewed mumbo-jumbo."
> Missoula, Montana 59802   ||    -Rep. John Doo<->little (R-CA)
> 406-542-1709, fax 728-0867  -------------------------------------
> cmcr@ism.net (Cold Mountain, Cold Rivers @ Internet Services of MT)
> 
>