I am going to lead this post with a big disclaimer.
Much of what I am about to write is speculation. I will cite where I can back up an idea but beyond that none of what I say should be taken as gospel.
Chemophobia is a thing. People are scared of "chemicals" in their food, in their clothes, in the air. Chemists often times quietly chuckle to themselves in private company about the ignorance of the public and how everything is made up of chemicals and how you can't really have a chemical-free banana.
Most chemicals people encounter on a day-to-day basis are benign or helpful. The oxygen we breathe, the wood of my desk, the chocolate in my cake. It's when accidents happen that cause chemicals that aren't supposed to be in contact with us that "chemical" takes on it's malicious tone and people become acutely aware of dangerous substances.
On January 9, 2014, 7,500 gallons of 4-methylcyclohexane methanol[1] (MCHM) was spilled into the Elk River in West Virginia from a leak in a tank owned by a company called Freedom Industries. This spill was so tremendous that people in the area couldn't use the tap water in their homes for over a week[1]- it was unsuitable for anything other than flushing down the toilet. The company was brought in for questioning because safety data for the chemical in question was lacking. The company stood by its assertion that the chemical was only toxic in large quantities and that the problem could be dealt with easily. Too bad reality doesn't bend to the whims of businessmen the way they might like. This cleanup my fold the company.[2]
Today it has come to light, however, that MCHM wasn't the only chemical in those tanks. The Charleston Gazette[3] reports that a "source" gave them a tip about this second chemical known by its' trade name PPH glycol ether.The company "Freedom Industries has claimed the exact identify of the substance is "proprietary.""[3] and that, "data about the potential health effects of the chemical "PPH" are -- like the information on Crude MCHM -- "very limited."" [3] While the information is technically proprietary, I thought I would do a little digging to see what I could find about this new chemical. "PPH glycol ether" is all the article calls the chemical and they mention it's made by Dow.
Do a Google search for "Dow DiPPH Glycol Ether" and you come up with a patent [4] for some of its blends as well as a published Material Safety Data Sheet[5] for the propylene glycol ethers. In this MSDS (page 4) as well as a Sales Flyer [6] for the chemical, Dow asserts that these chemicals are biodegradable and do not persist in the environment. Document [6] asserts that 60% elimination occurs after about 7 days and [5] makes the assumption that it will be taken care of in the water treatment plants.
This is where things get dicey. It's not enough to just assume something like this when you're talking about people's drinking water. Granted, Dow makes sure to say that the glycols aren't supposed to be in contact with people, but the Gazette paints a big question mark over why the public wasn't notified about the "real" contents of the spill before and why the glycols didn't show up in the water tests (post treatment plant) prior to this. They say:
"State officials said late Tuesday that, after consulting with West Virginia American Water Co., they believe the water company's Elk River plant would likely have removed the chemical from drinking water during its normal treatment process. Additional testing of some of the original water samples from the first days after the incident is being conducted to confirm that, officials said."[3]
So let me get this straight. A company spills a bunch of toxic chemicals into the drinking water system of a major metro area. At first, the company owns up to one chemical but now after two weeks we know that it's no less than three. And we don't know where the last two went in the water quality tests that have already been performed. MCHM has little (and poor) data about itself available for the public and regulators to talk candidly about how to proceed. The company has potentially poisoned thousands of kids. And now these two additional chemicals are exposed and their data is still slightly better...but still not good. Especially the line from [5] that says, "When introduced to water, they will have a tendency to remain in water."
If I were a West Virginian, I would be looking for a way out. Now. Outrage all aside.
[1] http://www.businessinsider.com/parents-are-afraid-for-their-kids-in-west-virginia-2014-1
[2] http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201401210034
[3] http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201401220031
[4] http://www.google.com/patents/WO2012075320A1?cl=en
[5] http://msdssearch.dow.com/PublishedLiteratureDOWCOM/dh_02bd/0901b803802bdec3.pdf?filepath=productsafety/pdfs/noreg/233-00601.pdf&fromPage=GetDoc
[6] http://msdssearch.dow.com/PublishedLiteratureDOWCOM/dh_08ec/0901b803808ecba6.pdf?filepath=fsc/pdfs/noreg/805...&fromPage=GetDoc
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