Word: trichlorophenol
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...owned by the Swiss firm of Hoffmann-La Roche, overheated, then blew its safety valve and released a huge grayish cloud into the clear Italian sky. Workers and company officials assumed that the cloud and the droplets that fell from it onto homes, gardens and livestock were composed of trichlorophenol, an irritating but nonfatal chemical. But the overheating reactor sent the temperature of the TCP soaring above 200° C. Dioxin was formed-a substance so lethal that one hundred-millionth of a gram in a two-pound mixture would kill half the rabbits who might...
...Trichlorophenol, the most active ingredient of the defoliant 2,4,5-T, had already proved its baleful capabilities in Viet Nam, where the defoliant was held responsible for liver cancers and birth defects. The dioxin seems certain to be worse. Within a few days of the explosion, residents of the town watched their cats and dogs stagger and die. Birds literally dropped out of the air People experienced nausea and blurred vision; many developed chloracne, their skin erupting in painful, disfiguring running sores...
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...
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