Bayer Shouldn't Be Making & Storing the Same Toxic Chemical in WV That Killed Thousands in Bhopal.

[ensho]

Bayer Shouldn't Be Making & Storing the Same Toxic Chemical in WV That Killed Thousands in Bhopal. Why Is That Even a Question?


http://blog.buzzflash.com/analysis/744


-snip-

Four lawmakers sent a letter to U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board President John Bresland requesting an investigation into Bayer's continued use of the highly hazardous chemical methyl isocyanate (MIC, also sometimes abbreviated as MIS) in light of last year's deadly explosion at a West Virginia chemical facility.

-snip-

The circumstances of the Bayer explosion suggest the incident easily could have become another Bhopal. Bayer's West Virginia facility is the only chemical plant in the nation that uses and stores such quantities of MIC, a chemical used to make pesticides and fertilizers. The August 2008 explosion killed two employees and endangered the surrounding community, as the highly flammable and combustible MIC was dangerously close to the detonation.

The tank that exploded that night was propelled 50 feet into the air, smashing pipes and equipment along the way. The Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board preliminary report noted that the tank could have been propelled in any direction, and that the 37,000-pound capacity tank of MIC was only 80 feet away. Some debris from the accident landed close to the MIC storage tank. Had the MIC tank been impacted, the result could have easily been much worse than the devastating Bhopal disaster, ripple effects of which persist to this day.

-snip-

Countless people put their lives in Bayer's hands, taking vitamins, medications and -- of course -- aspirin made by their healthcare division. But trust in Bayer CropScience, which Congress only now seems to be just barely questioning, is worth a closer look.

When one reads about the routine dereliction of duty and rejection of safety precautions that occurred at the West Virginia plant, the more important question becomes whether or not Bayer should still be allowed to manufacture and store chemicals in this country.

-snip-

Bayer's bad behavior didn't end there, however. In the wake of the explosion, Bayer destroyed evidence of its misdeeds and launched a media campaign designed to "marginalize" citizens and journalists who expressed concern about MIC.

Bresland also told local media outlets that Bayer had been uncooperative with his board's investigation, a full report of which is expected by year's end. The company is reportedly using an obscure post-9/11 security law to shield thousands of documents from the board's view.

-snip-

Despite its attempt at strong language, the congressional letter to Bresland simply asks him and his board to see whether Bayer could feasibly reduce or phase out MIC. Clearly, if DuPont did it more than 20 years ago, so can Bayer. The board and Congress should examine whether the sheer ineptitude, corruption and deception emanating from Bayer's CropScience division should bar the company from producing agricultural products at all.
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I feel sorry for West Virginians. if one criminal Baron doesn't get them another will.

[Tesha]

1. Given that it's apparently a useful chemical, where *SHOULD* they make it? (NT)

[ensho]

2. they shouldn't make it at all.

nt

[Tesha]

3. Does that apply to all chemicals with which you disagree?

Even important chemicals?

Tesha

[ensho]

4. no

nt

[Javaman]

8. It has 3 primary uses. Pesticides, rubber production and adhesives.

all of which can and are produced by other less toxic means.

[glitch]

9. Nashua, NH. nt

[Tesha]

15. Nice try. Better luck next time.

'Last I knew, and certainly as recently as 2007, the
Organic Chemicals Division of W.R. Grace and Co.
was still manufacturing at their ironically-named
Poisson Avenue site in Nashua. And the railroad
tank cars of hydrocyanic acid were still showing up
at the plant regularly and funny cyan-colored patches
of mud were still being found from time-to-time along
the adjacent banks of the Merrimack River.

But at least you get to buy shampoos made with
Grace's products, ehh?

'Better luck with your next cheap shot!

Tesha

[glitch]

19. What do you mean, cheap shot? Please explain. But thanks for the wish of better luck

I could use some.

[gratuitous]

11. Useful, perhaps

But apparently not a necessary ingredient for fertilizers. Bayer is also, according to the story, not handling MIC very responsibly, and badmouthing anyone who questions that. It's just possible that Bayer shouldn't be making, handling, storing or doing anything else with MIC.

[ColbertWatcher]

5. k+r, n/t

[Staph]

6. According to the Charleston (WV) Gazette,

Institute plant operators have always said that the number and variety of uses for MIC at Institute hampers their ability to further reduce stockpiles of the chemical.

But at its own plants in Germany and Belgium, Bayer never stockpiled large quantities of MIC. Instead, Bayer made and used MIC as it was needed. When it argued in a 1994 report that then-plant owner Rhone-Poulenc Ag Co. should reduce MIC stockpiles in Institute, the Good Neighbor Project for Sustainable Industries cited Bayer as an example.

"Rhone-Poulenc's Institute plant lags behind other firms in MIC reduction," the group's report said. "No other plants in the U.S. continue to stockpile MIC."

http://www.sundaygazettemail.com/News/200904220964

I live in the Chemical Valley. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I miss Union Carbide. They had much more of a sense of being good corporate citizens, of playing (reasonably) fair with their neighbors, than Bayer or Rhone-Polenc.

[DCKit]

10. It was Union Carbide's plant in India that blew up and killed or maimed hundreds of thousands.

You never know if the sweet, quiet guy next door will turn out to be a serial killer.

[Staph]

12. That's the scary part.

In the US, Union Carbide was a better corporate citizen than Bayer or Rhone-Polenc. Which gives you an idea of how really, really, bad Bayer and Rhone-Polenc are!

[eppur_se_muova]

13. Yes, make small lots, and consume quickly. That's obvious.

It's fairly standard practice for the most toxic chemicals.

FWIW, MIC forms a relatively stable liquid trimer, which will react like the monomer in many applications with additional heating or longer reaction times. For some purposes, the high reactivity of the monomer is essential, but the monomer can be regenerated by distilling the trimer. No need for large batches at all.

[Staph]

7. By the way,

are you a former West Virginian (or related to one)? Most outsiders don't know about the lovely and talented William Wallace Barron.

[cagesoulman]

14. As long as they're not storing it in Bavaria, the company doesn't give a shit.

America is the new Third World.

[Hubert Flottz]

16. Bayer is playing Carbide and Indians with us here in WV...

The Ghost of IG Farben rides again..."Giftgas" anyone?

Auschwitz: 60 Year Anniversary-- the Role of IG Farben-Bayer

Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2005

Today marks the 60th anniversary of the Soviet liberation of the Nazi death camp, Auschwitz. Elderly Holocaust survivors, former soldiers and world leaders have gathered in Poland to mark the 60th anniversary: "I would like to say to all the people on the Earth: This should never be repeated, ever," said Maj. Anatoly Shapiro, 92, who led the first Soviet troops to enter Auschwitz.

Lest we forget an important corporate participant in the Holocaust - two excerpts shed light on the role of IG Farben, ie. Bayer.

IG Farben was the most powerful German corporate cartel in the first half of the 20th century and the single largest profiteer from the Second World War. IG (Interessengemeinschaft) stands for "Association of Common Interests": IG Farben included BASF, Bayer, Hoechst, and other German chemical and pharmaceutical companies.

As documents show, IG Farben was intimately involved with the human experimental atrocities committed by Mengele at Auschwitz. MORE...

http://www.ahrp.org/infomail/05/01/27a.php

[Hubert Flottz]

18. The Empire of I.G. Farben

Snip...

One of the more horrifying aspects of I.G. Farben's cartel was the invention, production, and distribution of the Zyklon B gas, used in Nazi concentration camps. Zyklon B was pure Prussic acid, a lethal poison produced by I.G. Farben Leverkusen and sold from the Bayer sales office through Degesch, an independent license holder. Sales of Zyklon B amounted to almost three-quarters of Degesch business; enough gas to kill 200 million humans was produced and sold by I.G. Farben. The Kilgore Committee report of 1942 makes it clear that the I.G. Farben directors had precise knowledge of the Nazi concentration camps and the use of I.G. chemicals. This prior knowledge becomes significant when we later consider the role of the American directors in I.G.'s American subsidiary. The 1945 interrogation of I.G. Farben director yon Schnitzler reads:

Q. What did you do when they told you that I.G. chemicals was being used to kill, to murder people held in concentration camps?

A. I was horrified.

Q. Did you do anything about it? Read more...

http://reformed-theology.org/html/books/wall_street/chapter_02.htm

IG Farben

World's largest chemical cartel from its founding in Germany until its dissolution by the Allies after World War II. It grew out of a complex merger of German manufacturers of chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and dyestuffs (Farben). Its major members were the companies known today as BASF AG, Bayer AG, Hoechst AG, Agfa-Gevaert Group, and Cassella AG. They formed a loose association in 1916 and were formally united in 1925, with headquarters in Frankfurt. IG Farben expanded internationally in the late 1920s and the 1930s. During World War II, it established a synthetic oil and rubber plant at Auschwitz to take advantage of slave labour by the death camp's inmates, on whom it also conducted drug experiments. After the war, several company officials were convicted of war crimes, and IG Farben was broken up into three independent companies. More...

http://www.answers.com/topic/ig-farben

Maybe Bayer wants to "delouse" this place next time?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

17. NIMBYism, eh?

Yeah, no thanks.