Word: icmesa
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Dates: during 1976-1976
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Seveso's nightmare originated at Icmesa, a chemical plant that makes trichlorophenol, which is used in manufacturing disinfectant soaps and deodorants. The process can produce a highly toxic substance with the jawbreaking name of tetrachlorodibenzodioxine, or, as it is more commonly called, TCDD. On the morning of July 10, a stuck safety valve caused an autoclave to overheat and speed up the chemical reaction that produces TCDD. The result was an explosion that released two kilos (4.4 lbs.) of the poison...
Scorched Earth; Officials at Hoffmann-La Roche, the Swiss-based company that owns Icmesa, have urged Italian authorities to destroy the factory, tear down houses, burn the surrounding vegetation and skim off a foot of topsoil over the entire area affected by the TCDD. Italian officials have not yet decided to adopt such a scorched-earth policy. But army troops have so far evacuated more than 700 people from villages near the plant, and authorities have ordered blood tests on some 15,000 people in the area. Officials are also taking some controversial steps to confine the effects...
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