Communities Dangerous Chemicals

Classification and Hazard Communication for Dangerous Chemical Substances and Preparations in the EU... 

Hazard communication to users of dangerous chemical substances and preparations is accomplished by labelling and by means of safety data sheets (SDS), which give more detailed information to industrial users. An SDS has to be provided on request to the public for non-industrial preparations. There is a standard EU 16-heading format (Table 5) specified in the SDS Directive (a. 8). 

Congress enacted Section 112(r) of the 1990 Clean Air Act (CAA) to address the threat of catastrophic releases of chemicals that might cause immediate deaths or injuries in communities. It requires owners and operators of covered facilities to submit RMPs to the EPA. The final RMP rule was published in 40 CFR 68 in the Federal Register on June 20, 1996. RMPs must summarize the potential threat of sudden, large releases of certain dangerous chemicals and facilities plans to prevent such releases and mitigate any damage. 

Most of OECD s current work is focused on developing guidance for risk management that applies to the chemical industry as a whole. This includes guidance on conducting socioeconomic analysis risk communication tools to help companies screen potentially dangerous chemicals before they are manufactured and development of environmentally benign chemicals. 

Another area of community impact is the movement of toxic chemicals through areas of human population. Access to toxic and dangerous chemicals poses a threat under normal circumstances and a heightened threat under conditions of terrorism alert. In the District of Columbia passenger trains and freight trains share the same tracks and the presence of graffiti on rail tankers proves how accessible they are to human intervention. Responsible companies are increasing their... 

A strategy for dealing with pollution of water from chemicals is set out in Article 16 of the Water Framework Directive 2000/60/1 iC (WFD). As a first step of this strategy, a list of priority substances was adopted (Decision 2455/2001/EC), identifying 33 substances or groups of substances of priority concern at Community level. Recently, the European Commission adopted a proposal for a new Directive to protect surface water from pollution (COM (2006) 397 final). The proposed Directive will set limits on concentrations in surface waters of 41 dangerous chemical substances including 33 priority substances and 8 other pollutants that pose a particular risk to animal and plant life in the aquatic environment and to human health. The proposal is accompanied by a communication (COM (2006) 398 final) which elaborates on this approach and an impact assessment (SEC (2006) 947) which illustrates the choices that the Commission made. 

Poverty produces its own culture, its own environment, and in most industrialized countries, and countries that are now rapidly industrializing, the culture of poverty and its environment provide ripe ground for the dissemination of dangerous chemicals in air, water, and food—particularly neurotoxins. The neurotoxins discussed in this book are for the most part community neurotoxins. The degree of exposure and the severity of their impact outcome depend as much on socioeconomic circumstance as on individual biology. Impacts of the prenatal... 

The Black Sea coastal region of Turkey is an unfortunate area as it also received an appreciable dose of radioactive fall-out after the Chernobyl accident. After this accident almost a whole years crops (mainly nuts and tea leaves) had to be collected and destroyed. So this barrels story was only an additional incident to the misfortune in that part of the country. In both of these almost concurrent occurrences, the Black Sea coast pec le in Turkey suffered economically, ecologically, socially and perhaps paid with their health for the mistakes of others. Such incidents may happen to any nation or community anytime, perhaps even with more drastic end-results. This shows that the scientists and politicians of the wwld must work together to stop illegitimate transport of dangerous chemicals, and minimize risks of accidents which may create environmental disasters with transboundary transport possibilities. 

Hazard Communication and Classification, Packaging and Labelling of Dangerous Chemicals... 

Experimental approaches for the assessment of the effects of potentially dangerous chemicals can be developed at different levels of complexity, which take into account either the organisation of the studied target (single species, population, community, ecosystem), or the type of end-point (short- or long-term mortality, chronic or subchronic responses, reproductive impairment, etc.). The need for a compromise between ecological realism and the simplicity of the procedure and interpretation of results is... 

What should I do to protect my family and myself if a dangerous chemical agent were released in my community ... 

Obtain information on the American Chemical Society Responsible Care program. Identify which features help assure safe management of dangerous chemicals for workers and for communities. 

Communities near chemical weapon storage depots in the United States are understandably worried about accidental spills or releases. M55 rockets containing large quantities of sarin (SB) are of particular concern. Some of this ordnance has been known to leak, and there is a very small risk of explosion from propellants. Extra safety precautions have been instituted to ensure safe incineration and to limit the amounts of effluent released into the environment. Despite the risks inherent in the destruction process, the dangers in allowing the weapons to rust and leak have been determined to be greater than carrying out the disposal. 

Steve Kroll-Smitb studies people affected by dangerous or extreme environments. More specifically, he s interested in how people cope when, due to lack of information and support, they are left to their own devices to understand and respond to environmental crises. He has studied people who live in Super Fund communities residents of Centralia, Pennsylvania, a town where a mine fire raged underground and people with multiple chemical sensitivities. 

All chemical substances have to be evaluated to decide if they are classified as dangerous according to the requirements of the DSD. These dangerous properties are communicated to the user by standardised labelling, which consists of a dangerous symbol, information on hazardous properties (risk, R phrases) and advice on safety (S phrases). 

The concept of a safety case comes from the requirements of the European Union/European Community (EU/EC) Seveso Directive (82/501/EC) and, in particular, regulations that the United Kingdom and other member states used to implement that directive. United Kingdom regulations (Control of Industrial Major Accident Hazards [CIMAH], 1984 replaced by Control of Major Accident Hazards Involving Dangerous Substances [COMAH] in 1999) require that major hazardous facilities produce a safety report or safety case.64 The requirement for a safety case is initiated by a list of chemicals and a class of flammables. Like the hazard analysis approach (Section 8.1.2), experts identify the reactive hazards of the process if analysis shows that the proposed process is safe, it may be excluded from additional regulatory requirements. 

The nature-nurture problem revisited in most vertebrates, early experience of certain odors, interwoven with genetically anchored developmental processes, produces lasting, often irreversible odor recognition, preferences, or avoidance. Such behavioral development often occurs during more or less defined critical windows in time. The development of responses to odors often precedes that of odor production. Neonates already orient towards odors, while many pheromones are not produced until adulthood. Even before hatching or birth, the journey of chemical communication starts in the egg or the uterus. Knowing how chemical communication and chemosensoiy responses to food or danger develop is essential in areas such as animal husbandry or human behavior. 

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