By Richard T. Cartwright, PE, CHMM, (IHMM, AHMP and APICS) Fellow
The saying, “Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it” is more than a cliché. It is a reminder that we must constantly be learning from the past. Here’s a look back at major historical events that happened today in the world of hazardous materials.
October 18, 1998
A gas pipeline exploded in Nigeria where 700 people died. Nigeria is an oil-rich country. Unfortunately, millions of its people live in abject poverty. It had become commonplace for residents to steal oil from the pipeline to supplement their meager income. The pipeline explosion has been attributed to the process of stealing oil, known as “bunkering.” The resulting fire burned for nearly a week. Finally, specialists from Houston arrived with firefighting foam that helped local firefighters extinguish the blaze.
October 18, 1972
The Clean Water Act, which was officially called the Federal Water Pollution Control Amendments of 1972, became effective. The original legislation was vetoed by President Nixon on Oct. 17, but was overridden by the Senate and the House on the next day. The Act is the principle law governing pollution control and water quality of the nation’s waterways. Its objective is to restore and maintain chemical, physical and biological integrity of the nation’s waters. It established a national goal that all U.S. waters should be fishable and swimmable. This goal was to be achieved by eliminating all pollutant discharges into waters by 1985.
October 18, 1969
The U.S. government banned the use of artificial sweetener, cyclamate. The ban was based on concerns raised by one experiment showing bladder tumors appeared in laboratory rats fed large doses of cyclamate. Following new experiments in June 1985, the National Academy of Sciences affirmed the Food and Drug Administration’s Cancer Assessment Committee’s latest conclusion: “The totality of the evidence from studies in animals does not indicate that cyclamate or its major metabolite cyclohexylamine is carcinogenic by itself.” Cyclamate is approved for use in more than 50 countries.
October 18, 1799
Christian Friedrich Schönbein, German-Swiss chemist, was born. He noted a gas that appeared during thunderstorms and named it ozone for its peculiar smell (“ozo” is Greek for smell). He discovered that sending an electric current through pure, dry oxygen (O2) creates ozone (O3). He later discovered nitrocellulose (gun cotton) when he accidentally spilled sulfuric and nitric acids and soaked it up with a cotton apron. After his apron dried, it burst into flame. Cellulose nitrate was eventually used as a smokeless gun powder.
October 18, 1787
Robert Livingston Stevens, American engineer and ship designer, was
born. He invented inverted the T railroad rail and the railroad spike. He tested the first steamboat to use screw propellers. Stevens was the first to successfully burn anthracite coal in a cupola furnace.
Historical hazardous materials management events are posted 365 days a year at this LinkedIn discussion group.
