I Can Poison You And You Can't Know What Poison I'm Using! (VIDEO)

Independent scientists along with federal and state officials scrambled again Thursday for chemical information after Freedom Industries’ disclosed Tuesday that “an additional chemical,” PPh, was mixed with  Crude MCHM in its tank that leaked the poisonous goo into Elk River’s public drinking water supply two weeks ago today. 

Fossil Fuel Industry’s Dirty Little Secrets

Freedom Industries told state and federal regulators Tuesday morning that, along with Crude MCHM, PPh was also in its tank that leaked. Just as the company said about exact components in MCHM, however, information about PPh is ”proprietary.”

“We simply do not yet know the complete mix of chemicals that may have been released in that spill,” microbiologist Dr. Yuri Gorby told Before It’s News reporter Deborah Dupré Thursday evening.

The human and environmental impacts of the poison are unknown, although government officials declared the water safe. Most people with whom this reporter has spoken refuse to drink the water or bathe in it.

“We also don’t know the impact those chemicals could have on downstream ecological systems,” Gorby said.

Downstream ecological systems include nine counties with 300,000 people, water they drink, air they breathe,  the ground they walk on outside and track inside, and food they grow.  

Health impacts of both MCHM and PPh remain unclear, much less the combo. 

Crude MCMH is patented and effectively owned by Nalco, also the patent holder of the oil dispersant Corexit, is used as a foaming agent to wash certain types of coal before it goes to market. Nalco has sales worth 4.2 billion and has over 2000 patents dating back to the 1920s. (www.tappi.org/content/events/11bimspr/papers/nalco.pdf)

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), that the state government is relying to base its public safety statements, made its “safe water” statements not on Nalco’s Crude MCHM, but instead, a pure form of MCHM. 

Since the Crude MCHM mix has seven secret ingredients (secret except to Nalco and possibly the U.S. military), the government safety tests would not necessarily adequately account for potential dangers of the other chemicals or the mixture of those chemicals, according to the scientists.

Now throw in PHh that Freedom Industries admitted was also in the mix – 12 days after the emergency was declared. Not knowing precisely what thiis chemical nor the exact toxicology of it are not helping, either.

Dow’s PHh

The Material Data Sheet shows the product name of PPh is DOWANOLTM PPh Glycol Ether. And who makes this mystery chemical? Dow Chemical Company, 2030 Willard H. Dow Center Midland, MI 48674 United States. Dow’s the company that bayou folks down in Louisiana say is lurking behind the Bayou Corne sinkhole disaster that began a year and a half ago, an ever-growing disaster.

Among offenses too many to count, Dow’s scandals include dioxin contamination in the Saginaw Bay watershed that made national news in 2008 when regional EPA administrator Mary Gade said she was forced to resign due to her efforts to hold Dow responsible for cleanup. It was Dow in the headlines in 2005 when a former top official at New Plymouth’s lvon Watkins Dow chemical factory confirmed worst fears of residents – part of the town was sitting on a secret toxic waste dump containing the deadly Vietnam War defoliant Agent Orange. It was regarding Dow that a trusted family relation of one of its key administrators wrote to this author, detailing the company’s ties with the oil mafia and CIA.

“For such a simple thing to make, napalm had horrific human consequences,” PBS wrote about Dow’s Nepalm. “A bit of liquid fire, a sort of jellied gasoline, napalm clung to human skin on contact and melted off the flesh. Witnesses to napalm’s impact described eyelids so burned they could not be shut and flesh that looked like ‘swollen, raw meat.’” [Read more here.]

The commentary below by Randy Rousseau giving a glimpse of what Dow has done to the good-hearted Cajuns on Grand Bayou, on the less known side of the giant hole swallowing the area due to Dow and other oil and gas-related industry wrecklessnees.

Back to Dow’s MSDS on its PPh that leaked into West Virginia’s water: “Its ”Emergency Overview Color” is colourless; its “Physical State” is Liquid; and its Odor is “Very slight.”

The CDC noted Tuesday that data about the potential health effects of “PPh are “very limited” and CDC spokeswoman Barbara Reynolds said Wednesday that information available thus far indicated PPh was probably less toxic than Crude MCHM. 

If that’s the case, Crude MCHM must be a real doozy because here’s what the chemical bible, the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) says about Dow’s PPh: 

“WARNING! Causes eye irritation. Isolate area. This product is a ‘Hazardous Chemical’ as defined by the OSHA Hazard Communication Standard, 29 CFR 1910.1200.

“Potential Health Effects” (in full strength, not dilluted as it would have been in the Jan 9 leak process)

• Eye Contact: May cause severe eye irritation. May cause slight corneal injury.
• Skin Contact: Prolonged contact may cause slight skin irritation with local redness.
• Skin Absorption: Prolonged skin contact is unlikely to result in absorption of harmful amounts.
• Inhalation: At room temperature, vapors are minimal due to low volatility.
• Vapor from heated material or mist may be hazardous on single exposure. 
• For respiratory irritation and narcotic effects: No relevant data found.
• Ingestion: Low toxicity if swallowed. Small amounts swallowed incidentally as a result of normal handling operations are not likely to cause injury; however, swallowing larger amounts may cause injury.
• Aspiration hazard: Based on physical properties, not likely to be an aspiration hazard.
• Birth Defects/Developmental Effects: Has caused birth defects in laboratory animals only at doses toxic to the mother. (Author’s emphasis)

[Note: The above-listed information is not intended as a scare tactic, but instead, as a glimpse of some of the information that supports independent scientists, working in best interest of the public, saying they would never have declared the water safe for anyone because too little is known, too little has been tested, and they would not use the water at all themselves.]

Oh, and if PHh does get into your eyes? The MSDS says to flush them with water for 15 minutes. Just one problem, of course, in West Virginia, it’s possibly in the water supply.

Flush eyes with the West Virginia public water? Dr. Gorby said Wednesday he wouldn’t even flush the toilet with the public water right now. [Read: EXCLUSIVE: West Virginians, Flushed Your Water Tank, Yet? DON’T! Scientist Says]

These chemicals, along with what only the poisoners and heavens know what else, leaked from a rickety 48,000-gallon single-layered storage tank balanced on a concrete block owned by Freedom Industries that had not been inspected in over 20 years. Freedom’s site is  approximately a mile upriver from the main drinking water treatment plant operated by the private company West Virginia American Water.

Officials continue saying they “believe” West Virginia American Water’s treatment system was “likely” able to remove the PPH from the water.

“However, the water system has not been tested for this material,” Reynolds said in an emailed statement.

Yet the state deemed the water safe. Officlals dwindled potable water deliveries. Residents are having to demand that water deliveries be reinstated for all nine counties. 

“We still don’t know what chemicals people are risking,” president of Downstream Strategies Evan Hanson said when asked about the government’s safety advisory and people having about any contact with the water. “I’d be cautious about delivering a statement that the water is safe.” 

Each independent scientist, non-government organization leader, and Mountain Party key individual with whom this reporter has spoken reinforces what Dr. Gorby told Before It’s News on Thursday:

“We must reinstate and enforce the important and hard earned Acts of Congress that were passed in the 70s to protect us:  Clean Air Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, RCRA.”

Photo Credit: Facebook, Occupy The Hollers, Anita T.