West Pharmaceuticals Explosion in North Carolina

Fox News | 01.29.03 | Me

[kcvl]

Plant employees over 200 people...

[prairiebreeze]

A person quoted on CNN.com says that "it blew the roof off a good 400 feet down the road and caught the woods on fire."

Big, big explosion. Hmmmmmm

[L`enn]

Only thing I could think , and it is probably unlikely at this plant, is it may have been a methyl-ethyl-ketone explosion. MEK is a very common item at injection molding concerns, but more so at plants that assemble the molded pieces as it is used for bonding. Usually stored in 55 gallon drums.

[prairiebreeze]

If you mean by "delivery" physically transporting the vaccine from supplier to destination, I read recently that supposedly we are able to get vaccine anywhere in the continental US within 7 hours.

If you are asking if we have enough staff trained and facilities organized to accommodate mass vaccinations----Lord only knows.

[jriemer]

Local stations finally confirmed 8 dead. It was just weird that the locals weren't saying anything.

Would you want to be the first local station to say in essence "Uncle Pete's dead"? It's a tight knit community and everyone still knows what people do for a living. Particularly when we're all so jumpy and looking for the boogey-man behind each tree.

They've gone to Jesus now.

jriemer

[WestCoastGal]

CNN reportes that two buses with employees left the area to meet with family members at the Episcopal Church. Howver, 70 are said to be trapped inside.

[GovernmentShrinker]

One can only hope that our taxpayer financed homeland security crew has enough sense to ensure multiple manufacturers of such an essential item.

[Diana Rose]

delevery = delivery

[abner]

Acetone would make a big boom too, and is common in plastics facilities.

[GovernmentShrinker]

I believe she meant the devices that deliver the vaccines into your arm -- little plastic thingies like they make at this plant, with needles on the end.

[kcvl]

Methyl ethyl ketone (CAS #78-93-3) is a colorless liquid with an acetone-like odor. It is used as a solvent for coatings, adhesives, magnetic tapes, printing inks, and pesticide formulations; as an extraction solvent for hardwood pulping and vegetable oil; as a fragrance and flavoring agent in candy and perfumes; as a catalyst in the production of hydrazine; and as a sterilizer for bacterial spores on surgical instruments, hypodermic needles and syringes, and dental instruments. It is used in surface coating, fabric coating, lacquering, and varnishing. It is used in the manufacture of colorless synthetic resins, smokeless powder, artificial leather, lubricating oils, paint removers, cements, adhesives, and cleaning fluids.

Chemical properties:

Methyl ethyl ketone is soluble in water, alcohol, ether, acetone, and benzene. It is lighter than water and may be expected to float while rapidly dissolving. It is incompatible or reactive with strong oxidizers, amines, ammonia, inorganic acids, caustics, copper, isocyanates, and pyridines. Synonyms for methyl ethyl ketone are 2-butanone, ethyl methyl ketone, methyl acetone, and MEK.

Methyl ethyl ketone can cause human health effects through inhalation, ingestion, and contact with the skin. Since methyl ethyl ketone is a natural component of some foods, ingestion of food is also a source of exposure. Its health effects are similar to but more irritating than acetone (EW, January, 1992). Its vapor is irritating to mucous membranes and conjunctiva. Exposure can irritate the eyes, nose, and head; it can cause dizziness, fatigue, memory alteration, dermatitis, headaches, nausea, paresthesia of extremities, diminished vision, acidosis, and vomiting. Prolonged exposure can cause central nervous system depression.

Economics:

U.S. manufacturers of Methyl ethyl ketone are: Exxon Corp, New York, NY; Hoechst Celanese Corp, Somerville, NJ; and Shell Oil Co, Houston, TX.

Under Section 313 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, releases of more than one pound of methyl ethyl ketone must be reported annually and entered into the national Toxic Release Inventory (TRI).

[TheLooseThread]

"Wonder if they make smallpox vaccine and if so, how much of it just went up in smoke"

Richard Preston just wrote the book "The Devil in the Freezer" about smallpox and bio-attack. He talked about how within a few days of 9/11 they put a fairly large military guard around the pharm company producing smallpox vaccine as a precaution against attack.

I can't remember the name of the company. Was it North Carolina? Ugh, I can't remember.

[JennysCool]

CNN saying 70 TRAPPED???

[HairOfTheDog]

one of our competitors would have a bi-annual tire fire to get rid of his bad tires. They would burn for days.

I bet that was a really popular idea among his neighbors...

[bvw]

In a much thicker walled-vessel than a drum -- by the blast force effects.

[e_engineer]

two 800-feet-tall water towers flew in the air

This can't be right. They must have meant 80 ft.

[Diana Rose]

I was thinking of that little sticker device that you get gabed with 15 times when you are vacinated for smallpox :)

[L`enn]

A commodity plant like this would have the material stored in hoppers outside or near the building with a feeding system to draw it to the machines. However it is possible that they had several gaylords of resin stored. Plastic usually is stored in 500 or 1000 or even 2000 (0r 1102 and 2204lb ) gaylords, or in pallets of 50 or 55 lb bags. A plant like this would have a LOT of material on site.

Remember rubber is really plastic and comes in miniscule pellet form. It would not take long for it to combust, especially considering the gaylords are cardboard and the bags are plastic, and the base chemicals are hydrocarbon oil based compounds.

[HairOfTheDog]

They make the little plastic and rubber parts for syringes and IV bags.... tubing and such. That is what they mean when they talk about "delivery device" It is the means for "delivering" medicine.

[kcvl]

100 people have not called their families to tell them they are okay according to John Gibson on Fox News.

[Diana Rose]

jabed = gabed